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JED FROST One Bag, One StOry J ed Frost still looks back with unbridled joy at the bag his wife, Beth, gifted him upon her graduation from the University of Kentucky. It was no ordinary bag. It was not procured from a shop, or an upscale designer. Nor will Frost ever see the same one draped from another man's shoulder. No, it's certainly no ordinary bag. Instead, it's a snapshot - a leather polaroid immortalizing his and their life together. Frost looked at the bag and saw the number 25 branded on the leather, the same number he wore when he played basketball for his beloved Mizzou under legendary coach Norm Stewart. As he held it, he saw that the inside lining was made from the lovingly worn and aged pajama pants his wife bought him as their frst gift together. Finally, the fne leather straps he noticed were made from horse tack with brass buckles - from Lexington, their current home and thoroughbred capital of the world. It was at this moment Frost realized whatever he chose to put in the bag, it would simply be another addition to his life and ongoing story. "I've always loved to give really neat gifts and fun things," explains Frost who now resides in Lexington and makes custom bags in the same spirit that his wife made his. "It was just such a cool unique one of a kind thing, that I just loved. Everybody has a story and everybody has something that they are passionate about or that they want to share." Today, Frost is pouring all of his time into making bags for people who want to experience what he did when he received his from his wife. Having spent four months hunting for the best leather workers throughout Kentucky he fnally set to work on his frst one, a bag for a woman passionate about rescuing thoroughbreds from slaughter. A name tag inscribed "Flash" and a horseshoe on the front reminded her of one of the frst ones she rescued, while a braided tail from another formed the handle. The jacket her husband wore at the 1996 Breeders' Cup, where they met, was on the inner lining as was the embroidered denim from a pair of overalls her daughter wore during her childhood on the farm. One look at the bag and the passion for family and horses was all there. "You know I can go downtown and buy a custom made suit, I'll get measured and they'll make it," explains Frost. "But another FA L L 2 0 1 3 person can also go and use the same fabric and design and essentially get the same suit even though it's custom made. But what's so fun about these bags is that no one bag can be replicated. For the lady who worked on rescuing horses, I can't go and get that horse hair again, because that horse is gone and you can't duplicate that." One other factor in making Frost's bags so unique is the amount of work and time that goes into making each one, a process Frost estimates at three months. With carefully selected artisans throughout Kentucky having various specialties, one might say the bag itself undergoes a journey. "I found the best leather people and the best artisans I could fnd," explains Frost. "I probably met with 20 different individuals. Sometimes one person works on 95 percent of the bag and then another person fnishes it off. For the lady who rescued horses we had seven people throughout Kentucky involved with that." And it's all of these skills that will be put to the test as Frost's latest customer is Joe Buck - prominent sports announcer and native of Frost's beloved Missouri. Frost hopes Buck's bag will be ready in time for when Buck announces the World Series, something that Frost thinks is ftting for a number of reasons. "We're in the middle of building a bag for Joe Buck," says an excited Frost. "Bear in mind, his dad Jack Buck was a hall of fame broadcaster, so for this bag we're incorporating his dad's leather coat as well as the CBS logo patch that Jack Buck wore on all of his legendary broadcasts." For now though, Frost is just excited about his future in which he gets to explore the past and present of others - making not mere bags but mementos of a life well lived. "What do you want to show and represent with the bag?" considers Frost. "I know I'll never make a bag for someone who simply asks for a bag. It's not about the money, it's about making something that children will fght over in the future because it's an object that means something." Not an ordinary bag then, rather an extraordinary token. w w w. v o i c e - t r i b u n e . c o m | The Voice oF LouisviLLe 149