NYLON - February 2008 - (Page 62) SENSE AND SENSIBILITY ON AN EXCURSION TO MULBERRY’S FACTORY IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE, DANI STAHL FINDS HANDBAGS THAT ARE AS BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED AS THEY ARE COOL. PHOTOGRAPHED BY NATHAN KENDALL not allowed: The worker assigned to inspect and circle them gives me One of the unexpected—and ironic—perks of a visit to London is a hide—still shaped like the animal—to examine. I place it on my back the chance to explore what lies beyond the city limits. There’s nothing and prance theatrically across the room, bellowing “moooooo!” quite like the English countryside, from the lush hills to the sheep Moooving right along, I find myself in the cutting area, where the (hey, I’m a native New Yorker, I find them exciting) to—of particular shapes for the bag are sliced. I take a hide and place it beneath a interest to me—the incredible quality and craftsmanship of the large, scary-looking device, which proceeds to laser-cut the shapes traditional British accessories found at Mulberry’s factory in bucolic Somerset. Mulberry is a venerable English leathergoods company that to precise measurements. Then I take the pieces I’ve just cut (straps, in the last few years has turned out some of the coolest, most coveted which consist of three parts), and, with the guidance of a worker, I approach the gluing machine to piece them together. The machine arm candy out there. I was already the proud owner of two Mulberry is a giant flexible hose with a spray nozzle attached, which is, as you bags, so when the company invited me to spend the day at its can imagine, really, really fun. I get too excited, as I tend to do, and headquarters, I couldn’t resist. I immediately imagined myself as a I spray too much glue; it starts dripping out of the edges of my strap. Jane Austen heroine, traipsing across verdant valleys in a corseted “I just wanted it to stick!” I cry to the glue master. Luckily, it’s no big silk gown as a dashing lord, desperate for my hand in marriage, deal. Afterwards, I watch as the side seams of straps are painted and pursued me on horseback. sealed—if you have a quality leather bag, you might understand what However, the outfit I choose for the trip is more Gwyneth in Great I mean. This step is the most difficult, because I have to hold the Expectations (the modern-day remake) than Keira Knightley in Pride thin seam and move it steadily across a spinning inked wheel. I do and Prejudice: My sequined John Varvatos for Converse top certainly pretty well, all things considered. doesn’t make me look like the lady of the manor. I meet Vanessa, Next, it’s lunch hour—which is taken very seriously, as I’ve noticed Mulberry’s lovely head of U.K. press, and we board a southbound train. Two hours and a much-needed nap later (yes, I danced at from top: mulberry’s Raffles till way too late), we arrive at the factory, a nondescript headquarters; the industrial building in a beautiful setting. (The surrounding trees are mulberry mabel bag; apparently mulberry trees. I always thought mulberries grew on factory girl—shepherd? bushes, but nevermind.) First, I’m taken to an area full of giant rolls of leather, and shown the different skins in every color of the rainbow. Imperfections are factory girl
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.