Call us hoarders, but when it comes to handbags there’s no such thing as owning too much. This is especially true in the case of handcrafted bags made with love and precision. Enter Eda Atay Pastirmaci from Boejack Design.
Born in Istanbul, Atay Pastirmaci has earned a BA in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Kingston University, UK and has worked more than five years in technology and consulting. That is to say: her journey to handbag making was in no way expected.
It wasn’t until 2011 that she decided to switch gears and answer her creative calling. Now based in Seattle, her bags are hand-sewn in limited numbers in her home studio. “Before Boejack Design, I had a very boring engineering career,” she admitted in an interview with the Etsy blog. “I was in need of a hobby; I wanted to create something from scratch. I found this old sewing machine of my grandmother’s, and I taught myself to use it.”
Her designs, while practical, also maintain a level of creativity and ingenuity, as she experiments with shapes and forms. “It always starts with the question of how something is going to be used,” says Atay Pastirmaci. “First I decide what it’s going to be, say, a makeup bag or backpack. After I come up with a prototype, I use it (and ask my friends to use it) for a couple of weeks. Then I ask their opinions about the particular style: Do I need to add a zipper to the opening? Change the size? Add another pocket?”
Scroll down to see some of her designs and head to her Etsy store for more.
