The MFA Shop x LOQI: A Collaboration in Style and Substance

You won't need to choose between great style and substance in your accessories when you have a collaboration that works both ways. Loqi bags have a way of making a grocery run feel like a gallery visit, and that’s not an accident.

These packable totes pair serious museum-grade art with the kind of toughness you’d expect from gear built for a rainy commute, a beach day, or a long afternoon of errands. They’re made in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the result is something rare: a bag that works as hard as it looks good.

Built for Every Season

Start with the practical side, because that’s where these totes surprise people. The fabric is polyester taffeta, which is light, smooth, and water-resistant. A surprise drizzle on the walk to the train won’t soak through to your laptop. A sandy, splashy day at the shore won’t wreck the thing either. In winter it hauls library books and holiday gifts; in July it carries towels and sunscreen. Nothing about it feels seasonal.

Then there’s the capacity. Each bag handles up to 44 pounds, which is a lot more than most people will ever put in a tote. Think of a week’s worth of groceries, a gym kit, or a stack of textbooks, all without the straps complaining. The main compartment measures 19.7 by 16.5 inches, roomy enough for a laptop, a lunch, and a jacket at once.

And here’s the trick that makes it so easy to live with: the whole bag folds into a pouch about 4.5 inches square. Tuck it in a coat pocket, a purse, or a carry-on, and you’ve got a backup bag ready whenever the day goes sideways. Bought more than you planned? Pull it out. Otherwise, forget it’s there. That’s the whole point of an all-season bag: it’s useful in every kind of weather and never in the way.

Art You Can Enjoy (Even Without a Degree)

You don’t have to know a thing about early twentieth-century modernism to like these bags. Color, rhythm, and composition grab you before any art history does. A person who couldn’t name a single painter can still look at a swirl of motion or a calm, glowing landscape and think, that’s nice, I’d carry that.

Take the three designs on offer. Arthur Garfield Dove’s Sun on the Lake, painted in 1938 in oil, wax, and resin, is a hazy, glowing scene of soft curves and warm light. It’s quiet and slightly dreamlike, the sort of image that calms a busy morning. Dove was one of America’s earliest abstract painters, but you can enjoy the bag purely as a pretty sunset-toned pattern.

Cyril E. Power’s The Eight, from around 1930, goes the opposite direction. It crackles with color and movement, rowers surging forward in a fan of sharp, repeating lines. Power was an English artist known for capturing speed and energy, and that restless feeling translates beautifully to fabric. Carry this one if you want a bag with some attitude.

Blanche Lazzell’s The White Sail started as a color woodcut, made in 1919 and printed in 1926. Lazzell was a New England artist, and her bold, blocky shapes give the design a crisp, nautical feel. It’s printed on the front and back, so it looks good from every angle, and it’s an easy match for beach trips, school days, or the office. Her story is a good one, too: she was a woman making daring modern prints in an era that didn’t always make room for them.

The appeal, really, is that a great composition works on anyone. Good design doesn’t need a footnote. If you do happen to be curious about the artist, though, the bag becomes a conversation starter, and a small door into a body of work you might otherwise never have looked up.

Loqi and the MFA Shop, in Collaboration

What makes this partnership feel genuine is the care on both sides. The MFA Shop exists to bring the museum’s collection into everyday life, and it takes that job seriously. Choosing which works to feature, making sure the colors and details survive the jump from canvas or paper to fabric, and finding partners who’ll respect the originals all take real effort. This isn’t a logo slapped on a bag. It’s a deliberate attempt to put art in people’s hands, literally.

Loqi brings its own kind of dedication. The brand is known for clever, practical, packable designs that take reuse seriously. A sturdy tote you actually carry every day replaces a pile of flimsy disposable bags, which is a small win for the planet and a bigger one for your closet. Pair that engineering with museum-level artwork and you get something neither side could have made alone.

Proceeds from museum shop purchases also support the institution itself, so buying one means you’re contributing a little to the preservation and display of the very art on your shoulder. It’s a nice loop: the art inspires the bag, the bag funds the museum.

A Win for Both Fashion and Art

For fashion fans, these totes are an easy way to add a distinctive piece without spending a fortune or following a trend that’ll vanish by spring. The prints are bold enough to stand out and timeless enough to last. They go with denim, with a work blazer, with a swimsuit cover-up.

For art lovers, the appeal is even more direct. Instead of a poster rolled up in a tube, you’ve got a masterpiece that travels, gets used, and gets seen by strangers on the bus. Art is meant to be looked at, after all, and a tote on a busy sidewalk reaches more eyes than a wall in a hallway ever will.

And for everyone in between, it’s simply a very good bag: roomy, tough, weatherproof, and tiny when folded.

If you’re ready to upgrade your everyday carry with something that works in any season and looks great doing it, a Loqi tote from the MFA collection is a smart place to start. Pick the design that speaks to you, toss it in your pocket, and let a little art tag along wherever the day goes.