Nthalie Hambro Fashion Bag

How the great brand handbag that changed the world
Nthalie Hambro, the Handbag as Art

KOMELY HANDBAG FACTORY
www.komely.com.hk

Decorative bags that represent the skills of the artisan, crafted from esoteric, scarce or unexpected materials, are inevitably limited in number and therefore valued for their rarity.

The definitive characteristic of the handbag as an art form is in the imagination of the designer, whether expressed in trompe l’oeil fantasies or as pieces of precious jewellery.

Why, after all, make life so complicated? And in any case, surely a work bag can be both stylish and practical?

What kind of bag should a woman carry to work? Something stylish and graceful? The danger there is that it may send out the wrong kind of signal too frivolous, too unprofessional.

Our Director of COMELY HANDBAG design team, Alex always aims straight down the middle, seeking out the common ground between function and fashion. Indeed, for him there is no real contradiction between these two aspects.
“My personal preference has always been for the function meets beauty side of things,” Alex states. This beautiful red satchel nicely illustrates his point.


Connoisseur pieces are made by French-born handbag designer Nathalie Hambro. They are more likely to be found in galleries than on the arm of the owner, however.
As a designer Hambro constructs a three-dimensional paper model of each bag to ascertain scale and proportion.

Although treasured objects, the bags are often constructed in mundane materials; the designer cites artist Joseph Beuys as one of her influences and, like him, she subverts such substances to create something very precious.

One of her first designs was the aluminium lunchbox, based on traditional Indian tiffin boxes.