handbags from the Buyers Market of American Craft

Have you checked out some of the amazing home-grown designs that are available these days? All of these handbags are created by American & Canadian Fine Craft designers!

HANDBAG HAPPINESS

Handbag designer wins a coveted 2008 NICHE Award

The season for gift and fashion trade shows has begun, and with it has
arrived the forecast for the coming year. Here’s our prediction, from
behind the scenes at the Buyers Market of American Craft: The handbag
has leaped to the forefront of handcraft.

This year, for the first time, more than 25 American and Canadian
artists and designers exhibiting at the winter Buyers Market showed
handbags and related fashion accessories.

You have to understand the Buyers Market to understand how impressive
this is! We are the world’s largest wholesale trade show at which
artists and designers sell their products to gift shops, boutiques,
museum stores, catalogs, department stores, etc. The show includes
ceramics, woodwork, furniture, clocks, glass art, jewelry, wearable art
and more. All of the work is artist-designed and studio-made in the
United States or Canada: there are no sweat shops or overseas factories
involved. The show is held twice a year, in February and in August (the
next one will be August 2-4 in Philadelphia).

The show is open only to the trade, so for handbag bloggers and media,
it is a preview of what will be in stores in coming weeks!

For handbags to rule the day is a very important acknowledgement that
this fashion accessory is as much a mainstay of the art scene as it is a
part of the fashion scene. The artists are aware that a woman wants a
bag that is as unique as she is.

Last month, the artists showed new handbag designs in an amazingly
diverse array of media, beyond fabric, leather and metal mesh. Equally
impressive were the variety and quality of “eco-friendly” handbag
designs. We saw confections made of recycled inner tube tire, common
hardware, recycled newspaper and vintage vinyl records!

Especially thrilling was the announcement on Sunday, Feb. 17, that a
handbag design had scored one of the 2008 NICHE Awards – the “Oscars of
American Craft.”

Simon Trudeau of Anemone Bags, Montreal, Canada, won the 2008 NICHE
Award in the category of FIBER: SURFACE DESIGN, for his lace frame
purse.

In fact, the quality and number of handbag entries and finalists for the
NICHE awards were so impressive this year that contest organizers have
decided to add a FASHION ACCESSORIES category for professionals for
2009. The NICHE Awards, sponsored by NICHE magazine, www.nichemag.com,
honors innovative and creative designs in North American craft. NICHE
is a trade magazine for progressive retailers who sell American-made and
Canadian-made handcrafts, gifts and home furnishings.

Here’s the winning handbag from designer Simon Trudeau:

image source: Anemone Bags  

The Anenome Handbag

Leather handbags from Hippo Handcrafted Products:

image source: Hippo Products 

Soft, laminated (waterproof!) recycled paper handbags from The News LA:

image source: The NewsLA

And the elegant leather “Leaf Clutch” by designer Ellen Rice:

image source: Ellen Rice