November 12, 2011 – 11:20 pm
We are having a couple of pre-Christmas selling events in London in November and December 2011:
Spirit of Christmas Fair at Olympia, London from 2 Nov-6th November 2011
Boutique de Noel at Kensington Town Hall, 9th and 10th November 2011
Well Being of Women Christmas Fair at Drapers Hall, City of London, 5th December 2011
Please come and see [...]
Not quite “Live and Dangerous”, yet. But here’s a sneak snapshot as we unpack it fresh from the workbenches of Florence.
Lizzy is a new take on our larger Margot bag, with the added option of an extra long strap to wear it across the body. It also has a zip fastening, which on a small [...]
January 28, 2010 – 1:41 pm
Sometimes a new customer will contact me with concern over how to look after vegetable tanned leather. The most common question is: I’ve got a scratch on the leather.. what should do?!
Well, surface scratches are very easy to rub away on vegetable tanned leather. Technically, all it takes is gently massaging the displaced oil [...]
February 13, 2009 – 11:30 am
Two of our designs have been featured in the Financial Times in an article about women’s bags that ‘work, rest and play’. They were looking for bags that work in tandem to deliver function, flexibility and a certain fabulousness.
The FT chose our Amelia (packed with pockets and lots of room while remaining elegant and sleek) [...]
December 14, 2007 – 12:21 am
I have just got back from a trip to Italy, where I visited the family business that hand-makes our solid brass hardware. Here’s a few shots of the experts at work; forming, welding, and polishing the brass into shape. We have some really beautiful new hardware coming through on new designs over the next few [...]
October 15, 2007 – 10:48 am
I was recently asked while introducing a novice to the huge Lineapelle leather show, how, out of so many tanneries, do I choose which leathers are the best?
Here’s how I tried to explain the difference between vegetable-tanned and other (namely chrome, synthetic and corrected) leathers.
Much like our British bracing cups of tea, the [...]
Me hand-stitching with two needles, linen thread and veg-tanned leather…
… and not forgetting G, helping me out here with a men’s attache design…
I’ve just had another ‘fix’ at Val and Neil’s leather workshops up the road in Tetbury.
I’ve been working on some bag designs to go into my SS08 collection and, with the factory so [...]
Years ago, when I was the designer at Mulberry, I remember showing some important customers around the factory in Somerset. One of them was fascinated by the fact that the leather wasn’t supplied on an endless roll, like fabric would be. Of course, she quickly realised the impossibility of this but, with the fashion industry [...]
February 26, 2007 – 10:12 pm
A while ago I mentioned a visitor who I later found out was an artist living in Hawaii. We keep in touch every once in a while, and she updates me on the building of their dream home amongst acres of steamy tropical forest.
Well, I’ve recently had another lovely visitor on the diary.
Maryam dropped by [...]
January 26, 2007 – 10:20 pm
The upside of starting your own business is the freedom to do things your way. Every day is an adventure in possibility. There’s always an opportunity to follow or an improvement to be made or a new design to try out.
The downside is that you never find time to book a holiday and you rarely [...]
