Fashion and luxury handbags have inspired me since I was a teenager. When I was at school, I used to adore the latest bags from luxury labels in magazines and shop windows and knew that one day I would want to have one of these.

At the same time, I have always been a money saver, 3,000 euros for a handbag is not just something you spend without overthinking quite a few times. During school and university, such a purchase was out of the question. Then I said to myself: When I have my first full-time job, I will put some money aside every month for a year and then treat myself to my dream bag.

After that year it didn't become the absolute luxury model, but a bag for 400 Euros - I just couldn't bring myself to give up a three-week holiday in Australia for it!

I still like and use my bag to this day. But what struck me from the beginning, despite all the love for my beautiful bag, is that it basically "only" consists of four different pattern pieces - so it's not particularly complex. Since I have always loved sewing and drawing, I thought to myself, "Maybe I can do that too!"

I learned about leathercrafts, sewing, cutting and gluing leather, and edge finishing. I ordered tools, bought leather, searched for metal details and tried it. Eternal hours and many YouTube tutorials later I held a finished handbag in my hands. Anything but perfect, but: a selfmade leather handbag.

What I have noticed particularly during this time: Information to expand one's own knowledge is rare. Moreover, you can hardly find instructions for beautiful leather bags. Pieces that you can make with the tutorials that are available are not very feminine and have little in common with the designs of great luxury brands.

The traditional leathercraft is - like every craft - of course nothing that everyone can do just like that. For a short time I even thought about an apprenticeship. In my adopted home of Munich and the surrounding area however, there hasn't been a single company in the last three years that has trained fine bag makers. This fact surprised me so much and I found it such a pity that such an admirable profession is almost extinct! I wanted to do my part to make this kind of manual work more appreciated again and to make it possible for everyone, DIY-affine or not, to approach such a topic.

My goal with the DIY boxes: To introduce interested people to leather crafting in such a way that no huge investments for tools and materials are necessary, the implementation is easy and fun.

In my opinion, the feeling of having accomplished something along with a high-quality finish should always be the result. Handmade is great - but if the bag looks too much like DIY, it is not a fashion statement anymore.

After the idea, it took almost a year until the prototype of the DIY boxes by BAGS & PIECES was created, including many setbacks, various rescheduling and several visits to trade fairs and suppliers in Italy.

My biggest challenges were, first and foremost, putting together the material needed in small quantities for a handbag, finding affordable tools and preparing the leather so that no more machines are needed at home to finish it.

When it comes to BAGS & PIECES leather accessories, I put a lot of emphasis on design that is timeless and stylish at the same time. If you invest your heart and soul and time, I think you should end up with something that won't be outdated after one season. In other words, an accessory that you can use with pride for many years.

The finish and durability play an important role alongside the look. Our DIY boxes contain everything you need to make your own leather accessories - materials, tools and step-by-step instructions.

In the end, you'll hold a stylish one-of-a-kind piece in your hands that you can confidently say: "I made that myself".