OUR STORY

Gothenburg, Sweden

Cista Studios develops practical objects with a clean, minimalist design. The first is the Wheeled Tote Bag.

The problem it solves is an ordinary one. You go out for a few things and come back with more than you meant to buy, and there is a distance between you and your front door. Carrying it all at once is the choice most people make, because a second trip feels worse than the walk.

Solutions have existed for decades. They worked, but almost nobody wanted to be seen with one.

The Cista wheeled tote bag resting against a stone wall

Why nobody bought one

Here, errands are a private thing.

You go, you get what you need, you go home. It is not that people are unfriendly, it is more that the trip is yours, and most of us would rather keep it that way. An object that asks for attention works against that.

That was most of what was on offer. Either a shape nobody had redrawn in forty years, or newer designs from places where being stopped in the street is a pleasant part of the day. Both solved the carrying. Neither solved this. What there was not, anywhere, was something practical yet quiet.

So the bag stayed at home and we carried it all in one go instead. Which solved nothing, but nobody looked.

The solution

Quiet came first. Everything else had to fit around it.

The rule was simple: nothing on the bag should ask to be looked at. Every other decision had to work inside that. Matte surfaces, nothing that catches the light, discreet logotypes. Four swivel wheels, so the bag can stay upright beside you or be pulled behind you, whichever suits the pavement. A reinforced steel base and a foam layer, and a fold that means it never gets stuffed away and forgotten. Wheels you can replace, because a worn wheel should not be the end of a bag.

Most of the development went on materials. The outer shell is 500D PVC — matte, water resistant, built to take years of weather and use. Inside, a softer lining so the bag feels like something you own rather than a plastic container on wheels.

The Cista wheeled tote bag standing loaded on a pebble beach
Sizes60L & 120L
Weight empty2.4 & 3.3 kg
Tested to30 kg
Warranty2 years

The name

Named after a box that kept things to itself.

A cista was a box or basket that people in Greece and Rome carried things in. Produce from the market. Private belongings. And in the older rites it went through the street in procession with its lid on, because what it held was nobody else's business.

We did not find a better word for what we were trying to make.

Who we are

A small family business in Gothenburg.

We design and operate from Sweden, and ship from our fulfilment centre in the Netherlands so we can offer shipping across Europe. The family supports, tests, comments, develops, and pushes the company further than any of us would on our own.

We are small enough that the people who make the decisions are the people who answer the email. If something goes wrong, write to us. It is a short chain.

Heavy plans, made easier.

Two sizes. Four wheels. One large compartment. Foldable. Free shipping across Europe, and two years of warranty behind it.

See the bag