Greetings from Savannah!

I try to post every Wednesday, and I know this post will fall right on the wire of Wednesday to Thursday. Today has been such a busy, but wonderful day. I found out some great news about a collaboration I did back in March with Perc Coffee Roasters. Perc is a wonderful coffee roaster who provides to most coffee shops in Savannah, but specifically my favorite two sister coffee shops, Foxy Loxy and The Coffee Fox. They are both wonderfully homey and eclectic coffee shops with amazing desserts. Perc and I collaborated on a collection using recycled coffee sacks that the beans come in, which I crafted into billfold wallets.

The sacks have great typography, designs and vibrant colors. I named the collection "Full Bloom," which actually is a term from the coffee roasting process, but I thought of on a larger scale. "Full Bloom" to me means that the coffee sacks are reaching their full potential. They hold quality coffee beans to be roasted at Perc, and then are crafted into unique wallets.

I heard back from The Coffee Fox, where they had been selling my wallets alongside delicious Perc coffee. Apparently my wallets have taken off and they want to order more. I am excited firstly because this is my first reorder, but also because I began as consignment with them and now we have began a wholesale relationship. Ideally a small business would want to do wholesale. Most retailers will start a new business or product at consignment and see how well it sells. I was really excited to have made the leap in my relationship with this business to wholesale, and of course to hear that people are loving the wallets. My weekend will definitely be full of burlap sewing and ironing and staring longingly at the stacks of leather waiting to be made into my bridal collection and classic collection. Here is a look at the coffee sack wallets I made.

I have also started working on my Classic Collection, which is 4 different sizes of purses made with two colors of leather. It creates quite a diverse collection that has some two-tone purses and ones that are all one color leather. The two colors I am working with for this classic collection are champagne and rustic brown. This collection will also be introducing a new sized purse, the cardholder. Originally the Itty Bitty was a wristlet that had a chain that you could wear at your elbow crook. It was big enough for cash, cards and some sentimental trinkets. I thought of it as the minimalist purse, that would be ideal for a cocktail party or an event where you don't want your purse to hold you back. I have been reevaluating my designs and perfecting them lately. I realized that if I was to own this purse it would ideally fit my phone too. The Itty Bitty has gotten bigger now and will fit the iphone5. The purse that used to be the Itty Bitty has lost it's chain and become the Card Holder. I hope you enjoy a sneak peak below of the new Card Holder design, and the fabrics and leathers for the upcoming Classic Collection.

-Have a wonderful week, and always remember "You are Well-Loved."

Love,

Gianina

A Full Bloom of Coffee Grounds and Burlap (7/11/13)