Sabra Mottram is a Designer who makes earrings, cuffs, one of a kind handbags and moccasins out of leather. She launched her design career, Sabra Mottram Designs, a little over one year ago on Facebook. She says, "I started off displaying the things I make on Facebook for my own satisfaction in an album called: Things I Make. I made a bag for a friend on her birthday. Friends of mine would say, "I want one." The more bags that I put up on Facebook, the more orders I got." Now, she has a website, Facebook Fan page, Twitter account and blog. Avenue Magazine, last October, featured a bag of Sabra's as part of the Style section. Calgary Fashion has accepted her as one of their top designers. (Pictured above: Littlest Hobo Airporting Bag by Sabra Mottram Designs. Photo credit: Sanja Lukač)
In 2010 she plans to be part of Alberta Fashion Week and Vancouver Fashion week. "I will have two launches this year. I am going to be adding some clothing to my collection. Most likely some leather, but other fashions as well. The clothing line will be extremely small to start, but it will grow." she says.
Sabra Mottram's current collection is the Fall/Winter 2009 Collection. She hopped a plane in Calgary last Fall and flew to Italy where she hand picked the leather hides at Primorepelli, a leather distributor in Fucecchio (about half an hour from Florence) in the heart of the tannery district of Tuscany where fine Italian leather comes from.
"I picked good Fall/Winter colours I like and staples like black. After my trip to Italy I came up with new designs and decided to change the style of the bags slightly. I created three new patterns, cut out templates and starting sewing. I made a Hard Bag Overnighter style, Saddle Bag style and a completely Hard Bag which is a men's style. I also use Lindsey handbags which are Tandy Kits I stamp and carve myself with designs I make or use stencils for." she says.
(Pictured above: Swallow Lindsey handbag with custom design by Sabra Mottram Designs. Photo credit: Sanja Lukač)
The collection has a lot of appliques, which is the biggest change from the last collection. The collection was inspired by Nice, France and Pisa near Florence, Italy. Sabra says, "I went to Pisa and looked at the architecture in Florence. The architecture was classic looking and there was lots of French influence. I started the collection with one I made for myself, the Fleur de Lis of Florence. It has Fleur de Lis pull tags for the zippers and a large Florence Fleur de Lis on the side of the bag. It is named in French because I was going to France and Italy. I kind of tie things together."
(Pictured above: Larsen B Saddlebag by Sabra Mottram Designs. Photo credit: Sabra Mottram Designs)
All of her bags are named by their unique attributes. For example, she made a bag with white patent leather with holes and a turquoise back side. It reminded her of the Larsen B Ice Shelf that dissolved recently. It comes with wooden nautical-looking accoutrements for the zipper pulls.
She purchases all the material for the satin and lace interior linings of her handbags in Calgary. She chooses lace that accentuates the satin and buys enough satin lining for two or three bags only. "I don't purchase too many materials at once because I do things as one of a kind, so it doesn't go out of fashion. I get bored with styles rather quickly." she says.
Most of her bags have been sold to friends and family, but recently a Calgary Flames player's wife purchased one and and she sold two custom ordered bags to a company as parting gifts for two male employees. "I had one men's bag already made, and I got the call. I asked the client what the bags were for and she told me she wanted a unique one of a kind gift. I ran to Tandy to purchase some leather that was more metropolitan and less rustic to show her. She ordered two."
Sabra has received many orders through Facebook from friends and family. Sabra remarks, "People want to buy local and from people they know. They like to support the Arts Community in Calgary, small endeavours, and the barter system."
Using Facebook, she announces art and fashion shows that she is at or is involved in. "Facebook events are easy because I can upload a picture, give all the details and send it out to everyone in my Facebook, as well as people in my email who are not on Facebook."
She has a Facebook Fan Page for Sabra Mottram Designs in addition to her personal page, which is only for close friends and family. "I have 51 fans. It has brought people from the public into my circle who are not my friends or family. They are friends of friends who I wouldn't normally have access to."
The barter system also works for Sabra. She put a request to exchange photography for a handbag on Facebook. "I got 5 replies immediately and the first I liked I went with." she says.
Using iWeb on her Mac laptop, Sabra created her website through painstaking hours of trial and error. The website features a Gallery to view her handbags in a slideshow format and Shop where purchases can be made by Paypal. Instead of going through MobileMe for hosting, she purchased hosting through Go Daddy. The clean design templates of iWeb suited her style and matched her brand which is her SM signature stamped on all tags and dust jackets for each handbag hand-sewn by her. Every bag is named individually, so it is a one of a kind collector's item. "Most designers use their name as their brand." she says.
Her fan page on Facebook automatically updates her Twitter. If she posts photos to her Fan Page on Facebook, a tweet is sent. For example: I posted 13 photos on Facebook in the album "AW09" http://bit.ly/8YdHw.
Fearless in the social media realm, she just launched Sabra Mottram Design's Blog on Wordpress discussing the archaeology of style. Sabra is a University of Calgary graduate with a B. Sc. in Archaeology. She says. "Nothing is really an original idea in reality. Styles change through time, they come and go, ballooning out like a battleship curve and then fading away again. You can see aspects of certain styles that have carried through more than just costuming, but in small elements as well."
Sabra's designs are featured on a blog for a store called Worth. She keeps the bags in that store to sell at retail but if one sells through Facebook or other methods, she can pull them out any time because they are on consignment."When I was a little girl, I was sick a lot, so I used to stay at home with my mom. My mom taught me how to use a sewing machine.I always wanted to make drawstring handbags like Polly Pocket or Anne of Green Gables. I stopped sewing things for a while because I had so many problems with the bobbins. Instead, I began to bead things and make costumes from scratch." she says.
Sabra was an Account Manager for a sub-prime lender up until about a year and a half ago. When the financial crises hit, she was laid off immediately. She took a watercolour painting class, woodworking class and ceramics class. She says, "My creativity spilled out into new areas where I wanted to work with leather. My grandfather on my mom's side was a leather saddle maker, and on my other side of the family, the Mottrams, they were leather makers. I bought a turquoise deer hide to make a vest and couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I got bored and decided to turn it into a handbag. My friends on Facebook wanted me to make them one."
Sabra follows Fashion Television on Twitter so Jeanne Beker will some day find out about her. There is lots on the horizon, so it's really exciting. And this is just in one year. In three years, I'll be in London."
Sabra's website: http://sabramottramdesigns.ca/Sabra_Mottram_Designs/Home.html
Sabra on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sabramottram
Sabra's Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sabra-Mottram/117153635506
Thanks for reading!
Courtenay Pitcher, Sabra's biggest fan
Awesome the leather i love handbags in leather.It seems me royal entity.I hope Sabra Mottram will come up with such type of changes forever.Thanks for this to Sabra.
Posted by: Designer Bags | 05/18/2010 at 12:39 AM