The best stores and the small shops have always been proud of selling handmade bags. We know this and appreciate them but, are we aware of what ‘handmade’ truly means?
Do we know why handmade bags are preferable and, above all, are we able to recognise them?
Today we will try to clear these doubts by answering 5 fundamental questions.
1. What does handmade mean?
By definition, craftsmanship is a profession in which the resulting products are all exclusively made by hand and/or using simple tools employed by an artisan.
Everything that is mass produced or elaborated by machines is not handmade.
During many centuries, the words art and craftsmanship were considered synonymous. This explains the value and the quality of handmade products: each of them, apart from being the result of hours of work performed by one single person, is also part of the artisan’s personality and aesthetic taste. This makes each item unique.
This also applies to handmade bags: exclusively elaborated by hand and the result of the craftsman’s creativity. For this reason, each one is unique and has an intrinsic value (not solely material) which a mass-produced bag will never attain.
2. Are handmade bags just a passing trend?
Let us answer this question immediately: handmade bags have definitely always been in vogue because they are actually better, since they are in perfect balance between technical ability and artistic taste.
What distinguishes a handmade bag from a mass-produced one? That is easy to spot:
- It is made of high-quality materials (mainly leather).
- It is perfectly finished: every stage of production if performed by hand and the craftsman is much better at this than any machine.
- It is one of a kind, because it is the result of the creativity of real artists.
Every bag is different. Even those from the same model might present small variations.
Shortly said: it is true that machines might be precise and never make mistakes but it is also true that they lack artistic taste, attention to detail and passion; values that only true artisans possess. Moreover, machines can only produce identical items, lacking the small differences which grant a product personality.
Furthermore, there must be a reason why the dictionary defines “handmade” as a finely-produced object!
3. How can we recognise a handmade bag?
Obviously the first recommendation is to go to stores specialised in products of this type, or to shops where you will find the artisans to welcome you. That said, recognising a handmade bag is not that difficult:
- First, they are almost always made of leather (“real” leather of excellent quality), as it would not make sense to use human-made materials for such a product.
- They are very well finished; special attention and time is given to the stitching.
- The bags (even of the same model) are never exactly the same, precisely because they are not mass-produced.
- In one bag you can find slight colour variations, since leather, being an organic product, is never completely uniform.
- Leather handmade bags also have an unmistakeable, intense smell: do not trust bags that don’t smell or, even worse, have a plastic feel to them.
- Lastly: the price. If it is too low, it is impossible that the bag was handmade out of high-end materials, because quality has its price.
4. Are handmade bags worth their price?
First of all, let’s debunk a myth: it is not true that handmade bags cost a fortune. Those from not all-too-famous brands are rather sold for what they are worth, without surcharges due to merchandising.
Wait, what do you mean that they are sold for what they are actually worth? This means that, by paying this amount, you will be sure that:
- Your bag is “unique”, because it is made by a person who has worked on it with passion.
- It will be very resistant: high-quality materials resist the passing of time, specially leather, which ages with time but does not get damaged.
- The seams and decoration will last much longer than those machine-made.
- Handmade bags are objectively more beautiful because they are the product of the aesthetic taste and fantasy of an artisan (without considering that we can usually customise them according to our preferences).
5. Is it worth buying a handmade bag?
We will answer this question with just one word: absolutely!
Let us explain: if paying a bit more for a product means paying for what is actually worth and guaranteeing that it lasts, then we believe it is absolutely worth its price, because: if any other bag is for everyone, a handmade bag is just for us, and it’s forever!
Do you want to discover the universe of handmade bags? Come and visit us at Bags & Fruits, in Via dei Giubbonari 106, or visit the Virtual Shop: chat in real time with your personal shopper and have them send home everything you want!