Christiane Smit Refined Simplicity [Handcrafted Bags]

Last time I was in Paros I met the talented handbag designer Christiane Smit who now lives and works in Paros. We went for drinks at the picturesque Fotis bar in Naousa and she told me all about her passion for creating things with her hands and her love for sophisticated fashion. Her bags are completely handcrafted and unique. Christiane grew up on a island in the Caribbean and she traveled a lot as a child. From Mexico to Guatemala, Peru, Suriname even deep into the jungle. Her mother introduced her to different Ethnic cultures, their fabrics and daily utensils. Later she travelled to Malaysia and Cuba and more…As she explained to me “this traveling represents the Ethnic stream that you can see in my work. I have a weakness for colours, fabrics, simple lines…”

Regarding her studies she told me “I learned everything by just doing, never had any studies regarding my design and hand crafting. I chose bag because a long time ago when I travelled to Turkey I would buy some small skins of goat leather and I made some small evening bags for my self with shoulder straps from sweet water pearls. It was a dream to make my own big soft shopper bag!”

Christiane was always working in fashion or had fashion related jobs. Her last job traveling to Paris and Milan, purchasing the women collection of the Japanese designers , Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garcon, Junya Watanabe and Giorgio Armani. Her stylish bags stole my heart. She creates them with her hands, without using a machine and chooses colors without following any fashion trends. She is making bags only by order, her client choose the model and she sents samples so they can choose the color. So her bags are customized and not making more than 2 bags of each color.

I am loving Christiane’s simple lines and wearable, timeless style!

You can see more- Christiane handcrafted bags