Emma Cornes grew up in the Tweed Valley where here father was a wool-producing sheep farmer. It's therefore natural, perhaps, that she should have become a passionate producer of British-made bags, designing and selling her products from her base in Cheshire.
Many of Emma's bags are designed for men, so I asked Emma to tell us something about her business. For more information on the bags, or to visit her shop, go to her website.
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| Last year’s Sadler messenger bag. Emma plans to launch this year’s version with leather base in Autumn 2014. |
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| Emma's Cheshire studio - leatherwork laid out ready for another batch of bags |
"How it all began
It all started with a little domestic sewing machine at the kitchen table. That and a love for Scottish woven cloth and a frustration at not being able to find a new bag.
I’m the kind of person who only ever has one bag at a time. It has to work for every occasion. I’d use them until they were threadbare, then struggle to find a replacement. I guess I probably shouldn’t be a bagmaker, but it turns out I’m not the only person who uses bags this way.
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| Emma's range of iPad sized Fairweather messenger bags, including a couple of special editions in Dashing Tweeds cloth |
I started my bag making journey with the source of all knowledge - Google. A few YouTube tutorials later I just got stuck-in. The first months were spent making really awful bags, but after a while I had a few that were acceptable enough to take along and test at a few local markets.
After a while I was getting the hang of things and people liked what I was doing. And once word got round loads of people offered my help with everything from leatherwork to coping with cash flow.
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| Emma's stand at Olympia in 2014 - how things have moved on |
Almost two years to the day since I first fired up my little Singer I found myself knocking at the door of a noisy Victorian building in the Midlands. I was there to deliver materials for our first batch of bags to be made by a manufacturer rather than by myself.
Why outsource our manufacture?
2013 was crazy. I made and sold just under 300 bags, got an online shop up and running, exhibited at 17 shows up and down the country, designed and launched 10 different products…The problem was I had no time to do anything else. I was making lots of bags, but had no time to tell anyone about them. Something had to change.
My husband Pete joined the business full time in January. The first and biggest decision we made was to move manufacture out of our house to free up out time. After some research and a bit of experimenting we decided we’d like to hire the service of another manufacturer.
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| Emma's bags were originally designed for women, but her simple, classic designs have proved popular with men. |
How did we find our manufacturer?
They found us. We’re fortune that the British manufacturer we’ve decided to use actually approached us at an event. From their initial enthusiasm about working with us to the ease of getting great samples made I know they’re going to make a great job. I suspect I’ll be one of the few people who can tell the bags I’ve made apart from the ones they’re making right now – and that’s nothing to do with quality, just the quirks of different sewing machines.
Events like Meet the Manufacturer in London in June have sprung up since I started – I wish I could’ve gone along to something like this a year ago.
What am I working on now?
Since handing over the manufacturing I’ve got time for the fun bit again – designing bags and making prototypes. The first on my list in to create a new version of my Sadler messenger bag (Sadler, not Saddler, named after my friend Tim). This year the Sadler is going to have a full grain leather base and I complete re-design of the internal pockets. Hopefully my new Sadler bags will be ready for the Autumn.
Although I started with the aim of making bags for women it turns out that men love our bags too. And not just to buy as gifts. Last year our messenger bags went to just about as many men. So if you’d like an Emma Cornes bag made by me, Emma, you’d best hurry up. The new bags should arrive in July."
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