Fur designers are trying some new things. For example, scarves, capes, and jackets are being made from woven mink. The fur is cut in narrow strips, twisted like yarn, and woven like fabric.

Mano Swartz in Lutherville, Maryland, has designed a line of handbags in precious and nonprecious furs. Last year, the signature bag owed its hide to a skunk.

Mano Mano bags are handmade and one of a kind. This pink sable purse with vintage handles is $2,000.

Mano Mano’s silver-fox bag, made with wool and alpaca and embellished with mercury-glass beads, is $1,295.

This antique silver purse frame—with a Dutch-landscape design—is covered in sable sections; it’s $1,500.

This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles like it, click here.