Basil Racuk: Indulging the iPad.

The iPad. State-of-the-art, multi-faceted technological friend or cumbersome, obscenely expensive foe? Despite interviewing a certain accessories designer who's just purchased hers and isn't the least bit regretful, I'm still somewhat unconvinced. iPad cases, however, I feel I can judge more effectively what with fancying myself somewhat of a half-arsed aesthete.

Basil Racuk, the California-based artisan designing for the leather goods label of the same name, has just released a delectable and rather sizeable pouch which accommodates your iPad, iPhone and iNewspaper (LOL jk...Apple hasn't to my knowledge gone quite that far just yet).

Crafted using both machine- and hand-stitching, the case conforms to Racuk's signature rustic chic, minimalist aesthetic that caught my eye months ago.

^ Available in latigo and oil tan qualities and in dark brown, British khaki, vegetable tan, and black. The case retails for $972.

As the man himself has said of the product: "It's so hedonistic and usage-specific...flying in the face of all this 'fiscal responsibility'. It gives me the chills but at the same time I kind of love it.". Too right. But, then again, this isn't your average totem of über wealth but an item much more subtle and which offers a much greater degree of longevity instead.

Find Basil Racuk online, at Leffot, 10 Christopher St, NYC and at Guild in Venice, California from September.