I come from a heritage of seamstresses and a rural background. So I suppose I have found my way back to my roots. I had spent the last 10 years furthering my training in jewelry making and pattern making before I realized what I was bound to do. It dawned on me that I could combine the two arts of jewelry and handbag making, by custom-designing my own handbag hardware, thereby bringing a truly unique product to market. My FW 08 Collection of “Little Black Bags” was my inaugural collection - it was so exciting to finally debut!. I am currently in the process of showing my 2nd collection (SS09) to the marketplace (which introduces more color, but still focused on the debut collection of clutches and smaller shoulder bags.

Only the finest materials such as Italian lambskin and microsuede lining are used. I am committed to originality, and all bags are born from my own pencil and paper rendering. I believe my modern/vintage design aesthetic also makes the line unique. My target customer is today’s woman of style who craves more authentic, less commercial choices in luxury fashion. She also seeks designs that are both modern and timeless; that will work just as well tomorrow as they do today. That’s what I want too, and so what I focus on designing.

Like most of us I have been a lover of all things “fashion” my whole life. As a part of the fashion obsession, I have been an avid collector of vintage bags and jewelry. After being frustrated in my own personal search for a new and fabulous Little Black Bag, I figured “why not”?! I could combine my jewelry making with my knowledge of patterns and create a line that was like nothing else on the market. Now living and breathing in my own fashion brand everyday, this job simply feels like a natural extension of who I am. It’s truly such a pleasure and a dream come true!

The Deco Shoulder and the Deco Clutch (part of my first collection of Little Black Bags) have a gold fan hardware decal in the front. That piece was a pair of 50s vintage earrings that I repurposed into bag hardware. The shape of the bag was then designed around that piece, and inspired from the Chrysler Building (I was spending a lot of time in NYC at the time working with a small factory there and sleeping on my girlfriend’s couch!) In general, Deco architecture is a huge influence in all of my silhouettes.  Also to Note: a percentage of proceeds each year are committed to a charitable cause. I am strongly committed to corporate social responsibility on all fronts, and to giving back to the communities in which this business is run. For this first season, those proceeds are being directed to Dixon Hall, a social service agency near our studio in Toronto that focused on youth-at-Risk among other great services. (www.dixonhall.org)

I haven't had any big nightmares as of yet; aside from the constant need to be patient in how long it takes to get one new bag exactly right and how long it took to finally bring my debut collection to market in the quality way that I wanted to (two years!) My greatest achievement comes each time a customer smiles and happily carries away her new Jenny Bird bag! I love bringing this joy of style to my customers. Why it worth it? Aside from that, nothing is more fulfilling then working for yourself, not to mention when doing so means expressing yourself creatively through your own brand.