My smartphone wallet story...
For years I've been infatuated with leather wallets and handbags and it had been in the back of my mind to have a go at designing my own leather range at some stage. The things that I look for in leather products include being well made, being an interesting colour (not your average black, brown or red) and having eye-catching/well placed details. After obsessive looking, I felt that there was a gap in the market for this kind of product.
So at the beginning of 2012, I decided to actually try designing (it was a huge 8 month learning curve from conception to completion) and I'm so glad that I did!!! When I looked around, I realised that there was nothing out there with an illustration on it (patterns yes, but not illustrations). And, since my illustrations had been so successful, it was a natural step to add them to my design. At the beginning of the designing process it was also clear that having a space to store my iPhone would be more than handy (I'd just had a baby and was sick of trying to juggle a baby on my hip plus a handbag, plus my keys, plus my phone, plus, plus, plus - so the concept of adding a phone to the wallet was obvious).
I set out to create a beautiful coloured wallet, that was uniquely detailed with my illustrations and was clever in storage options. I chose colours that were on trend, but specifically dyed for me (these aren't colours of leather you can just buy off the shelves). I chose beautiful 100% linen to print my illustrations on and organic calico to print the cloud interior on.
There is so much more to the design story, including lots of ups and downs, many steep, steep learning curves and new words, terms and phrases to discover, but in the end, it all worked out. And, I had no idea how much of a hit they would be; of course I dreamt they would be received well, but you just never know with these things.
So, as 2013 rolled on, it was clear that iPhones were no longer completely dominating the mobile market and the much larger (in dimension) Samsungs and HTC mobiles were beginning to creep in and be just as popular; so back to the drawing board I went. Hence, I have re-designed the wallet to fit a wider range of phones. Now, with 18 card slots and 3 note compartments, there remains a coin section, 4 illustrations (1 NEW) to choose from, the ever-popular custom colours and of course, a pouch for your smartphone (iPhones, Samsungs, HTC's and Nokias, plus more, will all fit). This next round is due to be released to stockists and customers at the end of October and I can't wait to see the reaction.
If you want to be among the first to get your hands on one of these babies, you can place a pre-order on our website. Click here!
New layout inside.
The new 'Lets go fly a kite' illustration.
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