New Designer! San Francisco Based Scabby Robot

I want to introduce you Bagista's to a new designer I just came across: Jill Harrell of Scabby Robot.  After starting out on Etsy she developed her own handbag and wallet shop all made in her San Francisco studio.  Since they are all handmade, each bag is unique and detail oriented.  

These bags are perfect for shopping around town on the weekend!  Learn more about Jill and Scabby Robot in my interview below.

How and when did Scabby Robot get started?

In July 2006 I began the online Etsy.com shop experiment called Scabby Robot. The idea was to create a pseudo-anonymous venue for me to get feedback on my side projects and to explore my thinking on small business. I began by selling my silly robot illustrations: scabby robot, ear-trumpet robot, scarecrow robot. Gradually, I let some of my personal sewing projects be seen on the site. I immediately found my interest in sewn 3D forms had became all-consuming and the experiment had organically grown into a real online shop for my handbag and wallet designs.

What can you tell us about the collection?

All items are made by me, Jill Harrell, in my San Francisco studio. My vintage 1958 Singer slant-o-matic machine is my partner in crime. Together we create one-of-a-kind functional sewn items: handbags, wallets, soft accessories. Favorite materials are leather and heavy denim.

The main theme behind this collection is honesty. Each item is exactly what you see: from material, to construction, to intent. I'm exploring the question of how to allow materials to do what they do. I try to let leather be leather and let denim be denim. There are no fillers, stiffeners, inserts, etc to influence the drape and form of these pieces. Leather is inherently breathable, water resistant, rugged, soft. Denim is inherently stiff, durable, casual. Both materials soften and change shape over time. The simple forms in the Scabby Robot line are designed to feature materials for their identifying qualities now and as they change.

Each piece created is an exercise in sincere play. There is little premeditation in my work. I sit down at my machine, supplied with gorgeous materials, and connect them together with a lattice of freehand machine stitching. A curvy, zig-zagged, silly, sometimes backwards line of stitching travels across the surface of each piece. Often as I sew I play and ponder the metaphor of that meandering linear path across a soft surface. I compare it to a pen stroke on a page, to a line of music, to one’s path from waking to sleeping. Sometimes the stitch path reverses on itself over and over as if caught in a loop. Sometimes the path has many stops and starts. Sometimes the path is straight and direct. And sometimes the thread breaks. Drat! I know a piece is complete when I feel the balance of value, need, silliness, waste, durability, and function.

What is your best selling piece?

The leather wedge tote is my most popular item.

Who is the Scabby Robot Bag designed for?

I suppose Scabby Robot bags are designed for myself. I continue to find it terribly flattering that other people enjoy my work enough to purchase it.

What advice do you have for up and coming designers?

Don’t spend too much time worrying about what people want to buy, try to spend your energy getting in touch with your own interests. Your skills will develop naturally and your work will sell itself.