artico

Original handmade handbags by Ruth Keillar

Each bag is made using carefully selected fabrics and lovingly embellished.
With an emphasis on texture, colour and shape, and with sometimes more than a hint of the exotic, an artico handbag is a unique piece of wearable art.

Inspiration comes from beautiful places around the world, but also draws on a combined love of architecture, dramatic art and theatre. 

Shapes are created by blending a combination of pattern cutting and the toile method.  Forms are firm yet yielding; artico handbags are things of feminine beauty and should be handled with care and love.

Embellishments include beading, buttons, embroidery and fabric manipulation, also shells, feathers, scented wood and gemstones.  However as artico evolves new embellishments both contemporary and re-claimed find their way into the creative process.  For commissions a client's own fabrics, items or ideas love to be included.

The lining is a key feature of an artico handbag, often used to create a dramatic statement of colour, texture and detail.  Hand-embroidered inscriptions add a personal touch to commemorate an event, or just to add a certain extra feeling of indulgence.
Methods of closure are sensuous rather than utilitarian.

The creation of an artico handbag can vary considerably from a stunning piece offering timeless fashion with a contemporary twist, a statement of Bohemian decadence, or a true exhibition piece with almost a will of its own to metamorphose and blossom.

artico is Vita Sackville-West meets Audrey Hepburn; exotic confectionary.