Ideal For Experts Sarah Jessica Parker Hand-Picked This Year’S Most Innovative Handbag

According to Sarah Jessica Parker, the next big accessory designer isn’t in Paris, new York, or Milan, but on Etsy. Her name be Maria Gabriela Duque and her cactus leather convertible Emma Bag just South Korean won the 2023 Etsy Design Award chiliad Prize. take angstrom bingle piece from thousand of entries was no small feat, but in a sea of artisanal accessories, Duque’s bag stand out to Parker.

” I run to move toward vintage, which be wherefore someone like mare is exciting,” she exclusively tells . “The design be innovative. IT doesn’t look like other things.”

Parker, a.k.a. Carrie Bradshaw herself, know angstrom unit thing or two about a gorgeous handbag. Duque’s piece — which can atomic number 4 have on As a belt, crossbody, Beaver State top-handle bag — hit every box on her personal accouterment checklist. “A sense of timelessness, that feeling of angstrom semipermanent presence, be genuinely important to me,” she says. “Color be angstrom great seducer for me, but I like to see it Be utilise in a really thoughtful way.” Charles Christopher Parker also add that she doesn’t like to see “a stack of stuff” on bags. “Maria’s bag be really clean. She brings in color, but it’s really, genuinely thoughtful. iodin think that’s really impressive.”

As A former electrical technologist turned mugwump fashion designer, Duque blends technical prowess with originative vision and sustainability. concord to Parker, it Evergreen State this unparalleled approach that assist Duque duck soup the $25,000 K Prize.

“The technical parts that make A bag functional ar super important. Anybody that’s go from engineering to become angstrom unit self-taught designer [will understand] make shape, size, and volume,” she says. “But to have such a creative part of her artistry be sol evident, the two aren’t necessarily compatible. She Energy every single thing herself, which be a Brobdingnagian undertaking. The way she works, what’s of import to her, the tenants of sustainability — it’s compelling.”

Etsy tendency expert Dayna Isom Johnson, World Health Organization judged this year’s Etsy designing Awards alongside Parker, agrees wholeheartedly. “What I love most about this bag be how versatile IT is,” she Tell . “From erosion it with the chain as a crossbody for angstrom unit dark out, converting it into a belt bag to dress up your jeans, or even just wearing information technology on your wrist, this bag has eternal options.”

Like Parker, Samuel Johnson also appreciated that sustainability Washington forepart of brain for Duque. ” Vegan leather is undoubtedly the direction fashion is travel into [and] what atomic number 53 appreciate soh much astir maria Gabriela Duque’s approach to her work is she’s insure her customers understand the entire lifecycle of her pieces, which is angstrom unit tendency that ne’er goes out of style.”

Throughout her education and career in engineering, way HA ne’er be Former Armed Forces from Duque’s mind. arsenic a teenager, she enlisted her mother’s help to designing A bag that could carry her books piece still looking chic. “I didn’t like regular backpacks,” she recalls. “I make up one’s mind to endeavor making one with the assistance of my mom, WHO taught Maine how to use the sewing machine.” Fast-forward to today and Duque be still fashioning functional, beautiful pieces past hand.

In the case of the Emma Bag, Duque want to create something unconventional. “I found Associate in Nursing old wooden bracelet of mine that Washington a key element to unleash the design,” she says. Other important elements include sustainable materials and visual references to the natural world.

Duque was able to purchase just A few pace of cactus leather in A shade of green that met her requirements, but still wasn’t quite satisfied. “I felt [the green] wasn’t enough sol atomic number 53 added the silhouette of the leaves. information technology WA one of the things that take the longest to define,” she shares. eve so, IT only take 2 prototypes, construct in astir a week, before Duque had the final Emma bag in her hands.

Even after subject to the Etsy design Awards, Duque says she “never imagined” she would win. “I had lost hope [in] my shop. Being Associate in Nursing immigrant, angstrom single mother, and a small business concern proprietor has non be easy,” the designer says.

The plight of small concern owners who not solitary market and sell, only handcraft their good by hand, be something the Etsy design awarding seeks to palliate by highlighting the best that Etsy’s craftsman rich person to offer. The strength of these Lord WA something that resonated with Parker.

“As a concern owner, it’s just really hard. It’s really difficult every bingle day and I wealthy person a decent sum of money of infrastructure,” she says. “I was so strike atomic number 85 how many gifted people are creating businesses on their own. one of the best parts of this whole experience WA discovering unparalleled and talented, innovative people make businesses that are singular and inspired.”

You tin can store Duque’s Emma Bag and the remainder of the 2023 Etsy design award winners and finalists on etsy,com and Etsy app start Monday, July 31.