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Howick resident Sue Keytel has been making hand crafted handbags, for the past twenty eight years. Bagmaking, for Sue, started as a hobby in the late 1980's when she started making barrel-bags and handbags to sell at weekend craft markets. The idea was in response to Sue’s need to keep herself occupied since she was spending much of her weekend time at craft markets around Kwa Zulu-Natal selling home-made furniture with her husband. In the era before visual discovery tools like Pinterest and google, Sue invented her designs from scratch, her creations were all her own ideas and she’s kept it that way. Although she had never made bags before, and: “had probably not done any sewing since school,” it seemed to come naturally and she found working with her hands quite stimulating. At first it was trial and error but as she progressed she learnt and mastered the craft. Over time she worked out what people wanted, what sold and what didn’t, and she refined her designs accordingly. For Sue the real test and also the best compliment: is if the bags sell. Over the years, making bags has become Sue’s main occupation; actually it’s more than an occupation it’s her vocation, and as Emerson said: “Every man has his own vocation, talent is the call.” And since this is Sue’s vocation, then talent must surely have been her call; why else, besides the fact that she loves it, would she still be making handmade bags nearly three decades later. Sue still loves the creative process which, as she describes, begins almost subconsciously with finding and buying the materials; a long time before she finally sits down at a sewing machine. It’s really an exercise in the ‘sum of the parts’ because, even now, every bag starts with an idea that slowly works away in the back of her mind while she’s busy with other things: what material? what colour? what style bag? Eventually the combination of all these elements comes together; and by the time she sits down to sew she’s built a visual picture of the bag in her head and she’s virtually working from a blueprint. The results are always unique and beautiful creations, patchworks of colours and textures, simple and elegant. |