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They say necessity is the mother of invention. In Kara Smith’s case, it was also her mother who was the, um, grandmother of her inventions!
Beth Buchanan, Kara’s mother, is a “very environmentally aware” second hand clothes dealer who raised her daughter to be an avid recycler. So when Kara needed a new handbag, instead of heading to the local department store, she simply looked around her. Her mum-instilled queasiness at throwing stuff out had resulted in lots of small pieces of lovely vintage material lying about her house, and combined with her need for a handbag, Delicious Handmade Bags was born.
“It was definitely related to what’s available,” Kara tells Living Creatively of the other main reason she chose to make handbags. “You don’t often come across three metres of gorgeous vintage fabric. Also, I was terrified of sewing zippers!”
With only her “very basic” sewing skills gained during one year of high school domestic science, Kara borrowed a friend’s sewing machine and set about teaching herself to make handbags.
A graphic designer by trade, Kara had spent years designing packaging, and had learned “how to pull something apart so that when you put it back together it hides the seams, and that sort of thing”. This knowledge helped enormously as she taught herself to sew handbags. She would draw up designs and get a rough idea of how it might fit together. “Then I’d fumble my way through the mistakes and try to work out how people did this.”
And she did. Delicious Handmade Bags officially began mid 2007, with Kara’s first bag for herself such a hit with her friends she was asked to make more. She started custom making bags out of salvaged textiles – old coats, furnishings and dresses. To personalise them, she would name the bag after the recipient. As the business grew beyond Kara’s circle of friends, the idea stuck and the names became more “timeless”, describing ranges [based on the fabric] as well as individual bags.
Naming a bag is a bit like naming a child, she says, and the fabric or design will dictate the name to an extent. The Eunice, for instance, is made from quite old-fashioned looking material – your grandmother might have stepped out in a classically tailored jacket of its emerald green fabric – while the Cecily gives new life to some charming English upholstery cloth featuring a red and cream floral design.
Eartha makes wonderful use of recycled velvet in warm, earthy browns and tans, with a contrasting orange cord pocket. Michiko is made from dark unwashed denim and two 60s screen prints. Its Japanese name comes from the Asian-inspired diagonal ‘cross-collar’ lines of the bag.
Interestingly, there’s no Beth bag yet. Kara’s mother is her primary source of material. “She gives me a lot of dresses and coats that she just can’t sell, whether it’s because they’re unfashionable at the moment or there’s a tear in them or they’re moth-eaten or something. Then I’ve got to decide what to do with them – do I salvage some of the lining, or just keep the button and throw the rest out.”
She tries to avoid throwing much out however, thanks to her mum; Beth is “a city bush regenerator – she received an OAM for her services to the city. She’s a very interesting, very creative person.”
Famous relatives aside, Kara Smith is a name to watch. All her bags are unique, handmade one-offs, and in an era when the desire for unique handmade items is booming, word about Delicious Handmade Bags is spreading, especially among girls who want to “stand out from the crowd”. Kara’s bags are quite distinct – and it’s not just the quality vintage fabrics she uses. The design of the bags is unusual too. “Abundant” is the word she uses, and this abundance is deliberate.
“I’m a rounder person,” Kara says, “and the skirts I wear are quite abundant. When I think of abundance I think of a really big, juicy bag that carries a lot and has a lot of elements to it. I like the idea of having darts and ruffles and a real feminine quality – they’re a very female form and, I hope, quite inviting, reminiscent of big bottoms and apples and pears and whatnot. The idea is to have folds and tucks in the skirt of the bag so it balloons out a little bit. It’s also to have them be quite noticeable.”
There’s no question they’re noticeable. Check out Xanthe, for instance, a gorgeous silver and blue bag for special occasions, created from top-of-the-line silks and satins that might normally be found in upholstery or soft furnishings. Her signature Ballerina bags, meanwhile, have a roomy ‘skirt’ [hence the name; they were inspired by the tutu] that at certain angles gives them a dress-like shape. The Daisy Girl tote was even photographed being worn as a dress. “I still get people asking where they can buy those tops,” she laughs.
This begs the question: is Kara planning to move beyond bags and the occasional scarf she currently makes? She hesitates. “I get asked all the time if I’d make skirts out of recycled fabric, but I’m hesitant; there’s so many people doing them. Also, they take a lot of fabric so they’d have to be quite expensive, and I don’t know if that’s a good move.”
This is important. Customer service is a high priority for Kara. She makes bespoke bags to order – as long as you don’t ask her to put plastic on it [“that’s not my ethic”] – and if any of her bags need mending, she’s more than happy to do it. How delicious is that?
By Melanie Sheridan |
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Creativity runs in the family. Kara’s great grandmother,