How Light is your Handbag?

Have you ever thought of comparing your handbag to a cup of coffee? Well, I did, and to surprising results!

When I moved back to Italy and started my first company, the first handbag I designed was for new mums. At the time, some of my friends had started their families and were complaining that there weren't any beautiful baby bags to lug all their baby stuff around. My first creation was the Sophia Diaper Bag, it was made of a buttery soft leather and it was practical and stylish. I know it sounds crazy, but at the time, this was unheard of! A bag that had lots of pockets for all your baby paraphernalia and not an embarrassment to wear was extremely hard to find in 2006.

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So, when I went on to launch my namesake handbag brand in 2015, I still wanted to create a product that addressed a woman's need that no other designer was catering to. After many focus groups (AKA: after many talks over coffee with my friends), I discovered that the main issue was, not surprisingly, weight. But for once we weren't talking diets and workouts. Not at all, they were all complaining that their bags were far too heavy. They wanted a beautiful handbag that didn't break your back - literally!

"I searched for a revolutionary leather that was so light and soft that it wouldn't feel like you were carrying a small child over your shoulder all the time."

You may have experienced this yourself when shopping for a new handbag. Most designer bags are quite heavy even before you've put anything in them. That's because of the heavy leathers they use, or bulky accessories which adorn a bag, that really add a lot of weight. I had experienced this on my own back, and believed there had to be a way to lighten the load.

After carrying out some extensive research by visiting the biggest leather trade shows in the world, I finally found an Italian company that made the product I'd been looking for - a beautifully smooth leather that was lightweight, durable, and kept its shape over time.

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Our signature leather is a bonded suede leather which means there is no need for a lining. We use both sides of the leather, the smooth side for the outside, and the soft suede for the inside. This cuts down on the weight of the bag, but also means we have to be very smart with the design in order to keep them functional and beautiful.

When designing a bag with a lining you don't have to worry about the details too much, but as our bags don't have one, every piece of the bag is very important and has to be finished meticulously. We can't hide unsightly stitching, gluing or folds behind a lining, so every cut, stitch and knot is designed and studied carefully in order to have as few steps as possible. That's why designing a minimal bag, which may be misconstrued as simple by some, actually takes a lot of time and research.

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So that's the story of how my bags were born. In addition to their amazing weightlessness, another reason I was sold on this leather is the fact that it's possible to customise the colours on the front and back. I'm a great lover of colours and I was bored by all the black bags in the shop windows. With our colour combinations, you can wear a classic colour such as black, navy or cognac, and have a pop of colour on the seams and inside the bag, which I promise will make you smile every day you use it!

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