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Bali's bag darling
(Courtesy of Sabbatha)A world famous holiday destination, Baliâs rich craftsmanship has also lured many international brands to start producing goods here
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(Courtesy of Sabbatha)" border="0" height="396" width="512">(Courtesy of Sabbatha)A world famous holiday destination, Baliâs rich craftsmanship has also lured many international brands to start producing goods here.
Jocasi is one of them. Headquartered in London, Jocasi is famous for its classic and elegant handbags and belts that have found a home in many iconic shops such as Harrods and Top Shop, but they are made in Bali.
âEverything is handmade, giving them a personal and individual feel,â said Carla Heston, Jocasiâs director and founder.
âThey are made with love as the tailors have love for their job, as can be seen in every piece that the customers in the west appreciate.â
As a fashion lover, when she was living in Bali, Heston said that she was astounded by local talents.
She finally had her design and created her first bag â Kepis â back in 2002. The bag was inspired by a Balinese-style fishing bag that has been used for centuries.
She then took 20 bags to the UK and sold it to her friends. Her design was well-received and sold out within a couple of weeks.
From then on, her business grew fast. Her bags are now distributed in countries all over the world such as Dubai, France, Japan and the US. Recently, her bags reached shops in South Korea.
Many celebrities love the brand and they can often be seen wearing her collections.
Her iconic Moon Belt â a large belt with a big half-moon-shape buckle, for instance â has spotted on Lindsay Lohan, Neve Campbell and Eva Longoria. Heston said she had sold 300,000 Moon Belts so far.
For the Kepis bag, Jocasi created a cutting-edge design by experimenting with materials such as goat and sheep leather as well as snake skin.
Translated as high street style, Jocasiâs pieces are elegant but with a twist. Heston has launched several eye-catching bag collections â from beautiful purses with dazzling colors, quilted bags, backpacks, leather totes and many more.
Last yearâs collections included leather tie-dye in summer colors that were transformed to clutches and rucksacks and this year, its unpretentious woven style design will definitely find a home in many womenâs wardrobes.
âAll my designs are time pieces and so classy they will never go out of fashion. I never follow trends,â said Heston, who until now, still has her bags made by a local workshop in the Kerobokan area.
Indonesiaâs luxury bag brand Sabbatha also finds its home in Bali despite its international popularity.
From clutches to sling bags â perfect for red carpet moment or to impress future clients, Sabbatha has made its name among fashion lovers both at home and abroad.
The brand is renowned for showcasing a perfect combination of semi-precious stones, carved into the shapes of birds, dragonfly, flowers or leaves, as well as artistic bead works or silver engravings.
(Courtesy of Sabbatha)<)
(Courtesy of Sabbatha)
A world famous holiday destination, Bali's rich craftsmanship has also lured many international brands to start producing goods here.
Jocasi is one of them. Headquartered in London, Jocasi is famous for its classic and elegant handbags and belts that have found a home in many iconic shops such as Harrods and Top Shop, but they are made in Bali.
'Everything is handmade, giving them a personal and individual feel,' said Carla Heston, Jocasi's director and founder.
'They are made with love as the tailors have love for their job, as can be seen in every piece that the customers in the west appreciate.'
As a fashion lover, when she was living in Bali, Heston said that she was astounded by local talents.
She finally had her design and created her first bag ' Kepis ' back in 2002. The bag was inspired by a Balinese-style fishing bag that has been used for centuries.
She then took 20 bags to the UK and sold it to her friends. Her design was well-received and sold out within a couple of weeks.
From then on, her business grew fast. Her bags are now distributed in countries all over the world such as Dubai, France, Japan and the US. Recently, her bags reached shops in South Korea.
Many celebrities love the brand and they can often be seen wearing her collections.
Her iconic Moon Belt ' a large belt with a big half-moon-shape buckle, for instance ' has spotted on Lindsay Lohan, Neve Campbell and Eva Longoria. Heston said she had sold 300,000 Moon Belts so far.
For the Kepis bag, Jocasi created a cutting-edge design by experimenting with materials such as goat and sheep leather as well as snake skin.
Translated as high street style, Jocasi's pieces are elegant but with a twist. Heston has launched several eye-catching bag collections ' from beautiful purses with dazzling colors, quilted bags, backpacks, leather totes and many more.
Last year's collections included leather tie-dye in summer colors that were transformed to clutches and rucksacks and this year, its unpretentious woven style design will definitely find a home in many women's wardrobes.
'All my designs are time pieces and so classy they will never go out of fashion. I never follow trends,' said Heston, who until now, still has her bags made by a local workshop in the Kerobokan area.
Indonesia's luxury bag brand Sabbatha also finds its home in Bali despite its international popularity.
From clutches to sling bags ' perfect for red carpet moment or to impress future clients, Sabbatha has made its name among fashion lovers both at home and abroad.
The brand is renowned for showcasing a perfect combination of semi-precious stones, carved into the shapes of birds, dragonfly, flowers or leaves, as well as artistic bead works or silver engravings.
(Courtesy of Jocasi)
'I created a bag that serves more like jewelry,' said the brand's founder and designer Sabbatha Rahzuardi.
Daring colors and detailed pattern works are among signature trademarks of Sabbatha, such as seen at his Khomaneka Brown Blue Tote, which combines brown cow leather and fluorescent blue snake leather that blend beautifully.
For the bag, Sabbatha avoids heavy ornaments but one shiny silver buckle.
While being playful with colors, shapes and patterns, Sabbatha infuses Indonesian culture into his creations, launching collections to honor the country's heritage.
For his Uni Oxagon Batik Tote, for instance, the bag was airbrushed to create the batik motif on sheep and cow leather. He then added colorful stones ' black obsidian, Indian agate, amazonite, rock crystal facet, moose agate and yellow quartz ' along with gold-plated silver.
Sabbatha contributed his decision to stay in the country, especially in Bali, among other reasons, to have easy access to basic materials.
'Actually, there are plenty of big companies that come to Indonesia to buy their basic materials here,' he says.
Leather material is easy to find in Bali, with plenty of shops in Denpasar and Kuta offering different leathers, from goat to crocodile and snakes, in many different colors and shapes.
The price varies, depending on the leather's type, size and finishing quality. The normal price for goat leather is Rp 15,000 (US$1.33) to Rp 18,000 per pit (or animal size), while sheep leather's price is about Rp 21,000 to Rp 25,000. Python leather is much more expensive, starting from Rp 250,000.
Although basic materials are easy to find, there are a few challenges to having a bag perfectly made.
For instance, suppliers might not have the same color of products and small workshops might have only a limited type of machinery to get the job done, therefore finishing is often done by hand.
Heston said that she sometimes had to find different leather suppliers and accessories to support the desired quantities and the different accessories.
'Bali can be a little limited in brass, which I use on my bags for clip buckles, zip colors and so on,' she said.
But she believed that in the future Bali, could be the perfect destination to produce fashion items.
'Bali is becoming more and more equipped for producing larger productions. They have way more on offer now then when I started around 10 years ago,' Heston said.
