ABOUT US

Meet the Artisans

For the last 12 years, Lua has specialised in the detailed hand-applique that features on many of our bags and purses. Designed in the UK, these designs come to life in a small rural village in North Vietnam.

Led by the charismatic Trung, the applique team consists of his extended family and during busy periods, up to 100 local villagers. The region is the traditional heartland of embroidery and craft skills that have been passed down through the generations for centuries.  Trung, now in his 60’s, is a talented artisan with 50 years of experience in his field.

His extended family have learnt from him just as he learnt from his parents many years ago and have been producing embroidered tablecloths, handicrafts and even footwear for many years.

During Emma’s last visit in 2019 to see Trung and his wife, she captured some of the process of creating our Zebra ranges.

It takes up to 4 days to make a purse from start to finish.  The fabric and materials needed are cut in our main workshop in Hanoi and transported to the applique village workshop. The designs are drawn onto tracing paper and brushed with a special solution to imprint onto the fabric. Each small individual fabric piece is carefully cut out and glued onto the base fabric. Our purses often use 4 or 5 different types of fabric and it is then up to a skilled machinist to embroider each piece into place. The pieces are then returned to Hanoi for stitching and assembling into the final purse.