Handbags are … well, they’re my bag. There’s just something about a bag. So help me though, I am super fussy about my bags and that makes finding the perfect one a tricky thing. My bag is my trusty companion that comes everywhere with me for seasons at a time, hanging out, being cool, carrying my stuff, enabling me in the way a good friend will, hiding all my coffee and shopping receipts (half the time, the shopping itself), and the occasional Mastercard bill (when it hasn’t been burned on sight) and very importantly, does so without falling apart.
Handbag shopping generally goes one of two ways for me. Either, I find something that sweeps me clean off my feet, is everything I didn’t know I’d been dreaming about and leaves me wringing every last cent possible out of my budget when I wasn’t actually looking for a bag in the first place, or I know exactly what I want, it’s something that doesn’t appear to exist anywhere in the world (assuming I don’t want to re-mortgage the house), and I spend the next several months in a frustrating search before finally deciding that I am going to become a handbag designer and make my own because it’s the only possible way forward. I have quite high expectations of my handbags.
Lucky for me though, there exists Nelson-based, New Zealand bag label Kohl & Cochineal. Kohl & Cochineal is the creation of designer Louise Leggat, a graduate of both Ilam School of Fine Art and Massey University’s School of Fashion Design, and ex-traveller of Europe. I first purchased a Kohl & Cochineal design, the Obsidian, about three years ago and it’s still one of my wardrobe pieces I’m most proud of. A stunning and interesting piece of design and handcraft, it was one of the first steps I took in collecting a higher quality wardrobe, albeit one a bit smaller.
The sense of permanence you get in collecting one of Kohl & Cochineal’s designs suits me well. Affirming their commitment to longevity, Louise says that designs are perfected with each bag being sampled anywhere between 3 and 5 times from concept to finished design. It’s a big deal to me too, that the bags are handcrafted in New Zealand, using New Zealand leather.
I especially love the lack of external hardware in the collections. The materials used have their own voice and from a purely practical perspective, I have a special talent for destroying clothing on hardware. Buckle? Hello, hole in my top. External zip? Suddenly I have bobbles, bobbles and more bobbles. I really have no idea how others cope and I can’t, but as I said, it’s a special talent.
This season’s collection is a perfect fit for the darker Autumn/Winter months with 16 moody, textural designs available for purchase and order (designs are presently stoked in 10 stores New Zealand wide), and in short, it presses all of my bag buttons. From highly textured lambskin (Animee Shopper) to beautiful, soft deerskin (Duel), a leather and suede combination (Euclid) to my own personal favourite, cowhide (I am having trouble resisting you, Vala).
It’s a collection that comes alive for me. Sass is holding just about everything you need to go anywhere and do anything, a trip to the book store or a day in the city working. Doji is sitting at a table outside my favourite cafe, wrapped in a blanket, an espresso in hand while live music plays inside behind me. The side saddle is a cheeky movie matinee because the weather is rotten, and why not? The Millau promises to be an excellent shopping companion and the Penzan is the golden lights of my favourite restaurant on a cold, Wellington night.
Kohl & Cochineal is about simplicity and elegance, and season after season, limited edition, handmade designs crafted from enduring natural materials resonate lasting style over quick fashion. On her website, Louise says, “the handcrafted design details pay homage to a Japanese aesthetic of discerning beauty in object which perform even the most humble tasks”. Certainly no design ever feels perfunctory, no detail gratuitous. Extremely technical pieces have an air of striking simplicity and they are designs that someone stops you in the street over, because it’s just very hard to walk past one of Louise’s designs and not notice the artistry.
We’re now well and truly poking our head above the crowds with New Zealand made, and my appreciation of the accessibility we have to both stunning design and talented makers here on our own shores continues to grow. Also, having more knowledge of where pieces come from, and supporting our own industry is, to me, a lot more satisfying than purchasing from overseas, where we can be less sure how things are produced. And on that note, you’ll have picked up that this Autumn/Winter collection from Kohl & Cochineal is something very special that continues the forward momentum of an extraordinary label, so you should go and have a look for yourself.
The bit where I get nosey.
I’m fascinated that despite having lived, worked and travelled in Europe after you finished studying at Ilam (School of Fine Arts) and being hugely influenced by European design, your strongest design influence is actually Japanese?
The scale and glamour of European fashion is very seductive. We have a small but strong industry in New Zealand and there is quite a discernible style – it’s a little bit dark and quite a lot clever in terms of its approach to garment construction. It’s a style I love, but going from this into a European industry did open up new avenues for me aesthetically. The leather industry in Italy and Spain was also hugely inspiring – from boutique scale through to the Prada’s of the industry, there is just such diversity and bold commitment to innovation and style.
Japanese design will always be a bit of a touch stone for me. As with New Zealand design, it’s easier to relate collective stylistic principles to Japanese design. There’s a kind of minimalism here that I love, details are so thoughtfully applied, anything not needed is omitted and materiality and functionality are key. I think for me, I’m so in awe of the materials I work with I really want them to sing – the drape of the leather, its texture, its colour, it really makes sense for me to draw on these sensibilities when I’m designing.
What determines the number of styles that you make each season? Do you sometimes have to put the brakes on and choose a selection of your designs, holding over others for future seasons?
There’s never enough time to make them all. The designs are edited based on what will collectively work together to carry the mood and concept of the season as well as on a practical level provide a range of functions and price points. I have many books of design sketches and I love going through these when conceiving a new collection and finding gems which have been unrealised. Many of these designs will never be developed, some because they won’t fir with a season and some because I know while they look fabulous on paper, they will either be impractical to make or perhaps even to wear.
I have read that the Timaru tannery that you source your hides from is the only one in the world that keeps the natural grain in the finished hide. Is this something you particularly desire?
Absolutely. Leather has an innate beauty that I find highly inspiring and each make we make is in effect, unique. We cut every bag by hand and in doing so can be selective about how we use the grain and the very distinctive markings of each hide. I have a tendency to emphasise the more unusual characteristics by placing them in focal parts of the bag.
What would otherwise happen to the leather during the process?
Often the leather is pressed smooth and then embossed with a stamp which gives the impression of an all over grain. It does make mass production simpler as you’re not faced with having to match the grain on multiple panels, but personally I presser character and the trueness to its origin that natural leathers embody.
Was moving into bag design a conscious decision for you?
Yes, it was. While I love garment design, working with bags enabled me to design in a very focussed was without all the complications of fittings and bulk production. I found that many of the skills I learned for fashion design have translated really well into bag design. Having the ability to pattern draft has given me a lot of freedom with designing. I’m also fundamentally a maker. For me, design is closely connected with construction.
In the past you’ve said that you want to expand into other accessories. Is this still on the design shelf, or are you working on this behind the scenes?
We have been taking steps to expand our line to include other accessories, and I have to have these ready for release next year. Managing the increasing demands of a growing business has made diversifying a gradual process. I want to ensure our new lines will be of the same calibre and are as innovative as our core business. Whilst I can’t give too much away about our new additions, I can tell you there will still be a strong focus on leather goods.
By Simonne Walmsley
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