The magical hats of Christopher Coppens

 

A Belgian artist living in Los Angeles, Christopher Coppens - designer, artist of all trades - from visually offensive (for some) to shocking to funny to smart to sophisticated .... Christopher's work is extremely eclectic and includes many different mediums. Usually very colorful, cringeworthy and sarcastic "in your face" visuals ... I have to admit a weakness for the more sophisticated and toned down poetry of his hats.

Trained initially as a theater director, Coppens started his own label as an accessories designer at the age of 21, a career that would span over 20 years with several outlets, international press following and buyers the world over, and that he would combine and nurture with his first stunts and solo shows as an artist. For more on his incredible journey, click here. 

But 2012 would mark a very important episode in his career, when, after 21 years of making work on the edge of art and fashion, Coppens decided to close his company to focus exclusively on his work as an artist. At this point his label was sold in 140 shops worldwide, his name was heard among fashion connoisseurs and he had become arguably one of the most celebrated milliners in Japan.

Part of this post via Wikipedia

http://www.christophecoppens.com/

Hunting & Collecting ... leather

Loving these very simple leather versions of some of the most standard paper products ... from Brussels-based store Hunting & Collecting.

Delvaux

"In 1829, Charles Delvaux added a shop window to his Brussels studio. His handcrafted travel trunks quickly gained universal admiration amongst the cognoscenti. In 1883, Delvaux became a warrant holder to the Court of Belgium. And, in 1898, the House was the first to patent a model (the Edison trunk). Spurred on by this success, the range was further extended to include luggage, boxes, suitcases, and more. Never forgetting ladies’ handbags, which the House has offered since the beginning of the 20th century." You can read more here.

Delvaux is currently having an exhibition at MoMu Fashion Museum in Antwerp. If you go, try to stay at Hotel Julien!

Delvaux - the world’s oldest fine leather goods firm - has created a limited edition Newspaper Bag for the magazine Monocle.

Billykirk Shoulder Bag

It’s too bad that so many of the bags we like are either military or close to military, but we just find the leather goods of wartime beautiful by virtue of their stripped-down functionality, simplicity and complete lack of pointless, purely decorative features. This ridiculously beautiful bag is the No. 95 Shoulder Satchel by Billykirk and it’s a fairly faithful copy of a WWII Belgian military map case. It’s entirely handmade and the company even casts its own sturdy white brass hardware. Why can’t more civilian bags be like this – free of bling, glitz, chacha, weird anatomical looking folds, pointless, slouchy, ruched wrinkledness, and dopey hardware? We don’t understand the bags being churned out by the big couture houses at the moment. This Billykirk bag is quite transcendent, too.

This post via http://blog.ounodesign.com