When one of my designs is no longer in the current range I put it into a file which I’ve labelled ‘X-Collection’. So, today for X, here are some archive photos of my designs from previous years.

I’ve written before about how I mostly get inspiration for my designs from the leathers and textiles I find and that is very true of this range, called ‘Freesia’. I found this embroidered linen with canvas backing at a leather and textiles trade show in Italy and I loved it so I bought the black/grey silver version and the white one with multi coloured stitching. I don’t often design evening or party bags so this is one of the rare collections when I did just that.

The ‘Sienna’ collection has been in my range for years, in fact it still is – just in a different fabric. Here’s one I made around 10 years ago in a waterproof Italian canvas twill with lovely rich brown leather trim.

This glazed leather ‘Tessy’ collection from around 2008/09 was designed after I found the leather. It was very soft to feel and became more distressed looking with use. The two tone effect on the leather (seen best on the red) gave the colours a lovely richness.

When I found this ‘Circles’ tweed (in blue as shown and also in pink) at Lochcarron Mill in the Scottish borders, I just had to buy it. It’s got some cashmere in the mix, so it was really soft to the touch.

The ‘Nautica’ collection was so named because I took inspiration from the big eyelets and zig zag stitching you see on yacht sails. These bags are from around 15 years ago now! I wonder if anyone still has one?

I called this bag the ‘Antigua’ hobo. It was quite a large underarm shoulder bag with a zip top and big exterior side pockets. I bought the leather in Italy from a tannery well known for making leather for brands such as Furla.

A fun cotton mix printed fabric, also from Italy. This is the handheld design from the ‘Calypso’ collection of around 2004/5.

These bags, from the collection I called ‘Flip’, were totally reversible to give a cream and black or an all black bag. The canvas was bonded with a rubber layer between the 2 colours, making the bags fully waterproof.

I loved these brightly coloured Italian leathers in lime green and turquoise, each stitched with the contrast colour of the other bag. The ‘Tutti Frutti’ collection was in very zingy colours and a big hit in 2006.

The ‘Morocco’ collection. I do love turquoise and this silk striped material from Italy was one of my favourites around 10 years ago. The red version of the medium shoulder bag (right) was the bag that was spotted in Namibia.

This is the ‘Rio’ collection – not from 2016 but from 2006! The waterproof canvas fabric from Italy came in beautiful autumnal shades that year.

Following on from my ‘Rio’ collection, the same fabric in Spring colours is what I was inspired to use for my ‘Sahara’ collection in 2007.

‘Spot’ was a collection of handbags and travel bags in khaki, dark brown and pink. This is the khaki overnight bag with dark brown leather trim. I still love using one of these!

When I found a thick smooth nylon material that came in 100’s of colours I just knew I wanted to use it for the ‘Polar’ collection. These bags were all padded and quilted with a stitched design that I invented with my signiture ‘e’ stitch on the bigger bags. Every colour had a fabulous contrast inside, for example the pink had cornflower blue inside, the black a bright turq inside and the pale blue had a pinky taupe inside. This was possibly one of the first collections I designed with especially bright linings and I got lots of nice comments about how easy it is to find your things inside a bag that doesn’t have a black or dark lining!

The one that got away. I loved this aztec looking tapestry fabric but it was very expensive and so this collection, called ‘Quito’ sadly never made it into a production run.

I’ve enjoyed looking though all my old photos (well the ones that are digital!) and I’ve been surprised by how many designs I do have in my archive already. I’d love to know if you have one of these and whether you still use it.

Also – what do you think about re-visiting old designs? Is there one here that you’d like to see again in 2017?