EDMONTON - Kimberley Der knew she wanted to do something artistic for a living, but after trying a fine arts degree and a stint in interior design, she decided neither was her bag.
Turns out, her bag is bags — stylish, studded, leather handbags, which she designs, makes and sells through a local boutique.
“I’ve always loved handbags — I love to buy them, I love to collect them, I love to wear them — and I thought, ‘this is something I really want to do, but I need to learn the skills,’” says Der, 29. Her father is an abstract artist, “so I grew up with art and design around me,” she adds.
She moved from her Edmonton home to Vancouver and took the fashion program at the Art Institute of Vancouver, then taught herself how to adapt the design and sewing techniques to leather.
“It’s not forgiving, so once the needle goes in there, it’ll show the puncture,” she explains. “But it’s forgiving in the sense that there’s no grain to it so you can manipulate your pattern around to make it work or make it fit.”
The result of her labours is Kimder handbags[1] , a line of bags that range from small messenger-style bags perfect for the club to oversized totes that double as weekender bags.
Her signature, at least for the moment, is adding tiny studs to the bottom corners of the bag. All are made from soft, textured leather, often with oversized zippers, another trend she particularly likes.
They range in price from about $220 to $500 for her newest bag. “My bags are quite trendy but I still think they’re able to be worn every day. When I do my designing, I think of something that can go from day to play — it can transition really easily so you can wear it with almost any outfit.”
Practicality and versatility are important to Der, which is why many of her bags come with both long straps to be worn messenger-style or with chains for a dressier look. They also have a removable wristlet, to make it into an evening bag or a clutch.
She also chooses dark colours, like navy and eggplant, or neutrals like tan and grey. “I find with a lighter-coloured bag, it gets really dirty really fast and it doesn’t look as sharp or as nice,” says Der.
While are her bags are made from leather, she is looking at non-leather options, “but I haven’t really found anything that I like that looks the way I want it to,” she says. “I’m kind of picky in the sense that I still like the look of leather and the smell and the feel of it.”
Der moved back to Edmonton from Vancouver to live more affordably while she gets her business off the ground. She currently sells her bags at Bamboo Ballroom[2] (8206 104th St.) and is getting her website up and running (kimder.ca[3] ) so potential customers can see what she has to offer.
While she wants to stay away from making custom bags (“I want to have my own designs,” she explains), Der will make specific bags for people if they can’t find the design they want in store, or if they want minor changes.
By spring/summer, she plans to sell her bags online as well. Eventually, she’d like to get into making leather jackets along with handbags.
Der gets lots of suggestions from customers, especially about critical features like pocket placement, she says. For one close friend who recently had a baby, she converted one of her existing bags to a diaper bag by adding a range of handy pockets.
She’d also like to branch out into other styles of handbags. “Now I’m working with the softer leathers, but I find that structured bags are starting to come back in right now, so it would be really nice to get a grasp on how to make a really nice structured bag,” she says.
To read Marta Gold and Amanda Ash’s blog, The New Black, go to edmontonjournal.com/blogs[6]
References
- ^ Kimder handbags (www.facebook.com)
- ^ Bamboo Ballroom (www.bambooballroom.ca)
- ^ kimder.ca (kimder.ca)
- ^ mgold@edmontonjournal.com (www.edmontonjournal.com)
- ^ twitter.com/MartaGold1 (twitter.com)
- ^ edmontonjournal.com/blogs (edmontonjournal.com)
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