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Sabbatha's story
As one of the countryâs most famous luxury bag brandâs, Sabbatha â named after its designer and founder Sabbatha Rahzuardi, is renowned for its cutting-edge designs
As one of the country's most famous luxury bag brand's, Sabbatha ' named after its designer and founder Sabbatha Rahzuardi, is renowned for its cutting-edge designs.
Since hitting the market, the brand has charmed fashion lovers alike in addition to celebrities such as Julia Roberts and Katie Holmes as well as Indonesian top figures singers Anggun C. Sasmi, Melly Goeslaw and veteran actress Christine Hakim.
'I'd rather be seen as an artist, not a bag designer. If people like the quality of my creations, then they can buy it. The products speak for themselves,' said the graduate of Sorbonne University, France, at his boutique in the Seminyak area in Bali.
Inside the store, stunning and colorful leather bags are on display, some of which are decorated with precious stones, fit not only for carrying personal day-to-day items but also to collect.
Sabbatha first moved to Bali in 2000 and worked as art director at a local advertising agency before he created his brand.
He started out creating simple accessories along with bags in small volume. At that time, he only used simple materials and sold them as consignment at his friends' shops.
In 2004, he was introduced by one of his friends to a big company that was attracted to his accessory collections. The company placed big order that enabled him to open his own shop. He took over a space in Seminyak a year later. The brand itself was set up few months later.
Sabbatha said the idea to focus on bags came out of his desire to create his own interpretation of bags ' a bag that only serves its purpose but is also unique.
His first bags were made of fabrics adorned with beads made out of glass, wood, resin and part leather.
But as the market demanded better quality bags, he decided to focus on leather instead of fabrics.
His bags are now made of many different leathers, from cow, goat to lamb, as well as combinations of them.
The simple beads are now gone, replaced with semi-precious stones, such as black onyx, amethyst, serpentine or opal, which would later became his signature.
'From a woman's point of view, Sabbatha is known for its stones because I want to create a bag that is like jewelry,' he says.
He also adds engraved silver into his bags. He personally designs the engraving, which is later specially made in Celuk, Bali's silver production center.
Each of his collections comes with a different story, which makes his creations special and unique.
Apart from using stones and silver engravings, he also adds distinct Indonesian finishing touches such as plaited rim.
He also does not hesitate to play with colors or cutting-edge shapes for his unisex collections.
Sabbatha said that he rarely created his bags based on a certain theme or season ' preferring to play with many different combinations of leather or stones.
'In the last three years, my innovation focus has been on color, function or shape,' he says.
Citing an example, he said that last year he used lots stones but decided to tone it down this year. 'I use less stones now but play with leather [combinations],' he said.
Within a month, he produces an average of 50 pieces and each is priced up to Rp 20 million (US$1,760).
He also launched his one-of-a-kind Sabbatha luxury collection, which is produced in a limited amount.
His bags are being sold around the world, thanks to his agent in France that pushes a distribution channel in Europe and Russia in addition to his several contacts from Australia, England, Hong Kong, Singapore to the US.
Coming from a country where imported brand name bags as well as fake ones are flooding the market, Sabbatha believes his creations stand out for their high quality.
The man, who prefers not dealing with business or marketing, said that his biggest challenge was dealing with piracy.
Although his brand is officially licensed, he said it was difficult to register all of his designs since each comes with different colors, details and models.
'People say that Sabbatha is the most copied brand in Indonesia,' he says. 'I see this as my biggest challenge ' how to always create fresher, newer collections that make people want to buy only an original.'
' Photos courtesy of Sabbatha
