I love my jaunts on the Internet and finding something that is unique. I cam across UOldBag! on Bouf.com. Lisa Tilley develops new products that are fashionable from unused vintage materials. The simplicity and vintage charm are what caught my eye.
Old bags in particular are given a revamp using vintage materials, illustrations, and photographs. Some include imagery that has been painstakingly cut out and applied using the art of decoupage, others have hand embroidery that has been carefully sewn over beautiful and delicate crochet patterned paper. All of the materials have had their own previous life - magazines, newspapers and retro home furnishings. Even tea cosies featuring animals such as Ginger Cats have been transformed into quirky evening clutch bags.
Lisa Tilley is a trained textile designer who completed her BA (Hons) at The Nottingham Trent School of Art and Design. Lisa won several awards including the Bradford Textile Society Competition. As a result of this prize she was awarded a trip to Premiere Vision 2005 by the Director Jacque Brunnel, where she was later invited to work in Paris for a woven fashion fabric house designing fabrics for the couture market. Lisa Tilley also lectures Textiles at various UK based colleges and schools and runs private weaving and design workshops.
I really like her ethos of vintage and reused items being utilised into new products. This also means that every item is unique, which I think makes them more special.
UOldBag!'s products are currently stocked within Paul Smith stores internationally and were featured there for Milan and Paris fashion week 2010. They also show at fairs such as 'Origin' London and 'MADE' Brighton.
Enjoy,
FashionFantasist xx