Over the last 13 years, Sage & Salt founder and self-defined intuitive strategist Corbin Chamberlin has become one of the most sought-after energetic healers of the industry’s elite, charging $600 hourly for a tarot card reading, and a multiple of that to sage-cleanse a private jet.
If you get off his 200-plus strong waitlist, that fee is payable via cash, check, credit card — or an Hermès Birkin bag.
Chamberlin, who is just as hard to get an appointment with as his handcrafted bag of choice is to purchase (retail prices start around $12,000), first discovered the coveted accessory when he was 12.
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“I was incredibly smitten,” he said, emphasizing that each one is made by a single artisan from beginning to end. “Craftsmanship and artistry is my buying factor with these bags, as it is for so many true-blue collectors of them.”
Chamberlin has since built a collection of Birkins befitting a king — or, in his case, a witch. He believes the bags evoke a sense of abundance in both himself and his clients who see them, but when it comes to his collection, less is increasingly becoming more.
“I had 20 at one point, but I have sold quite a few just because I wasn’t using them all,” he said. “I only want to keep things I’m using and that aren’t ornamental in my closet.”
His collection started with a gift from a client. “One time, a client of great means asked me why I didn’t own one when I always admired hers. She gave me my first — a black, 40-centimeter Birkin.” From there, “people wanted to start trading services for bags, and the joke got into the water system,” he said. “Birkins had become a form of currency for me, and because I love and cherish them, I was always happy to accept a bag as the form of payment. I don’t do that much anymore unless it’s under certain circumstances.”
Many of his bags, Chamberlin said, he stores in a safe at a bank. His most prized one though, a 40-centimeter Birkin in smooth Barenia leather with gold hardware, is his daily go-to and took him a decade to procure.
“For 10 years, I was told it was very rare and I would likely never get one,” he said. “In true witch fashion, I went ahead and manifested one for myself.”
His current collection spans colors, sizes and materials, and when he evaluates how to expand it, he’s guided more by energy than appearance. “I think about how I’m going to wear it and how it’s going to make me feel,” Chamberlin said. “If I want to come off as a badass, rich b—h coven leader, then I’ll put on my black exotic Birkin with gold hardware. If I want something more casual, I typically go with my Barenia. It’s about picking your energy and how you want to feel.”
True to form, when he started carrying his own bag, he felt the objects needed energetic protection as much as his clients did. A new business category was born.
“I was walking down the street with a bag and there was tons of admiration towards it, but I was also sensing a lot of jealousy,” he said. “People didn’t realize I couldn’t actually afford my own and it was a gift, and this idea hit me. I needed to create a protective talisman for not just Birkin bags, but all bags. It’s now one of my brand’s bestsellers,” he said of the $400 bag charms crafted of quartz, marine and obsidian.
What’s clear is Chamberlin’s idea that bags — even those that compare in price to real estate — should be loved and used.
“The Olsen sisters, for example, use their bags and don’t treat them as some precious thing, and it’s incredible,” he said. “All of us Hermès fans see them out with their box leather Kelly bags and are so enamored. They’ve dispelled that we should be careful with our bags.”
Next up, Chamberlin is eyeing a 35-centimeter box leather Birkin in the shade “vert fonce,” and eventually a 30-centimeter lizard Birkin in “ombré.” And yes, he plays favorites with his styles. “I used to have quite a few Kellys, but I realized the one-handle thing isn’t for me. I’m just a Birkin witch,” he said. Of the bags he’s looking for next? “The tarot cards are looking like I’ll get them.”
