Empire Experiences Interviews Bespoke Leather Handbag Artisan, Studio Queen 318 (A.K.A Stella Petrou)
Empire Experiences is thrilled to announce that the fabulous Studio Queen 318 (A.K.A Stella Petrou), artisan of beautiful bespoke leather handbags, will also be in Kalbar on the 31st August! We have a very interesting lineup of talented designers and artisans that will be setting up for the day of the Fair, and Stella is one of them!
So, what is different about Stella’s leatherwork and why is it so special? Well, we sat down with her one afternoon to answer these questions, find out a bit more about her craft, and give you an insight into the interesting people we like to partner with, and the quality goods we love to support! Below is a bit of a summary of our conversation.
What is Stella’s background?
Stella started out majoring in painting at University before discovering her passion for leatherwork and has now become an indisputable expert in the world of leather craftsmanship. She has won Most Outstanding Exhibit in the Tooled Leather Category at Brisbane EKKA a few times over with her remarkable creations (she had to stop participating to give other people a chance to win!).
What made Stella want to collaborate with Empire Experiences?
Stella has been a patron of Empire Revival for a few years now and told us that she loves the way our stock is presented and styled, and also really likes the fact that our business emphasises one-of-a-kind treasures you can’t pick up just anywhere. So, a collaboration between Empire Experiences and Stella, an artisan that deals in only one-of-a-kind creations, seemed a perfect fit!
Who are Stella’s biggest artistic influences?
One of Stella’s favourite designers is Ralph Lauren (she has a soft spot for the preppy polo look!), but for her handbag creations, she tends to derive inspiration from the English regency period of design- clean lines and not too fussy. She also loves the Australian cowboy aesthetic and mentioned she would love to set up a future collaboration with R.M. Williams.
From start to finish, what is involved in making one of Stella’s bags and how long does the whole process take?
We learned that it is quite the process! Early on, Stella used to do even the decorative circular cut-outs you can see in some of her designs completely freehand! She has in more recent years developed template stamps to streamline some of those details but she still freehands some parts, and she always does her sewing by hand. The length of time it takes to make a bag of course depends on the bag, and obviously with experience, she has also gained speed; but even so, a bag on the smaller side like the Ark bag (see front right in the photo) will still take her about 40 dedicated hours to make, and she does everything in the process herself- from dampening and moulding, to colouring, to tooling, even down to making her own calico dust covers for each of her creations.
What tools and techniques are used in making one of Stella’s bags, and what sets her apart from other creatives in this field?
Stella uses a variety of high quality leather tools, many of which are made on the border of Mexico (Stella told us these were some of the best tools available in the industry), and she also uses some excellent tools designed by homegrown Peter Main, originally a commercial artist from Sydney turned leather enthusiast who has authored some notable books on leather crafting techniques.
In terms of her stitching technique, she was actually taught how to stitch by saddlers, including internationally acclaimed Aussie legend, Mervyn Rowlands. She also picked up several tips and tricks from leather crafting pioneer, Al Stohlman. In addition, she credits Cherryl McIntyre, owner of Exquisite Leather and full-time tutor and master crafter (based in Brisbane), and Bill Webb, renowned plaiter and judge at the EKKA, as influences on her skills today. Stella has been under the tutelage of some of the finest leather crafters from around the world (e.g. France, Belgium, the US, Japan, etc), and she is also an active follower of other respected leather crafters; she is always looking to learn new things and find new inspiration. What she has been left with is her own signature amalgam comprising the finest tips and techniques used globally- some traditional, some European, and some her own individual flair.
One interesting avenue that Stella has dipped her toe into is producing designs to be digitally printed- literally printing onto leather like ink on a piece of paper!
What’s Stella’s least favourite part of the bag-making process?
Funnily enough, even though some of the leather tooling intricacies in Stella’s work must be eye-watering and painstaking at times, she actually finds the straps on her bags to be the bane of her existence. Despite this, the other thing that Stella does that really adds a level of exclusivity to her creations (and shows she must be truly committed to customer service!), is personalised strap lengths based on the height of the recipient (because these details really matter to the comfort of the end product).
How durable are Stella’s handbag creations?
Very! Stella’s handbags are designed to be durable enough for everyday use. In fact, this active intention when she designs also sets her apart from the crowd. Stella isn’t interested in making bags that are too precious; she wants to make bags that are durable, one-of-a-kind, made from quality materials, and not too fussy. Stella uses a high quality adhesive favoured by shoemakers for its strength, she incorporates basketball leather in some of her designs for the same reason, and she tries to source materials from Australia wherever she can. Some of her favourite suppliers are Packer Leather (an internationally recognised leather specialist in Brisbane, which has been in operation for five generations) and Mac-Lace Leather, a highly reputed leather goods supplier in Capalaba.
In some cases however, she chooses to outsource materials for their superior durability or quality (e.g. she uses leather from Pakistan to form the distinctive rope around the top of some of her bag designs, which was originally used for sewing machine belts and is therefore made to withstand a lot of wear and tear).
Wondering how she knows that her designs stand up against the durability test? She has seven of her own designs in her personal collection, and she’s found they hold up extremely well. She also mentioned that they’re pretty darn easy to care for (turns out they can survive a dramatic coca cola spill with next to zero scars, although Stella still doesn’t recommend that her customers pour soft drinks into their bags on a regular basis).
What else should you know about Stella?
One of the things we really love about Stella is her commitment to recycling, repairing and upcycling wherever possible; she likes to go and find vintage bags and take the hardware off so that these parts can live a new life as part of a fabulous new creation.
Oh and did we mention that apparently there is nothing Stella can’t do? When she isn’t tooling leather into gold, you might find her creating beautiful watercolours, making silver jewellery, designing clothes, baking wedding cakes, or even donning a hard hat for some light construction work (she built the fixtures in her home studio and she also co-built her front deck!).