(For English version and the story of Ampersand As Apostrophe, please scroll down)
Ces sacs à main ont été créées par Jessica Park, designer et fondatrice de la marque Ampersand As Apostrophe. Le sac Aztec présenté ci-dessus est fabriqué dans un cuir extrêmement souple sur lequel Jessica ajoute des motifs aztèques en sérigraphie. La série des Mailbag quand a elle, est un bel exemple d’up-cycling. La créatrice utilise d’anciens sacs de la poste anglaise, vieux de 100 ans, pour en faire des accessoires de luxe. Ces créations sont fabriquées à la main dans son atelier de Seattle.
I’d like to introduce you to a great bag designer, Jessica Park from Seattle. She created a brand called Ampersand As Apostrophe. I will let you discover the Aztec and the Mailbag collection.
The Mailbag is a nice example of up-cycling. The bag is handcrafted from a 100 yr old vintage english mailbag. Each is handmade and designed individually, due to it’s rare vintage quality of leather and canvas. It’s versatility allows one to transform it’s use from day to evening and from shoulder bag to clutch.
Here is the story of Ampersand As Apostrophe, by Jessica Park, founder & designer :
“I love using elements of strong contrast to really accent the rustic/ raw and/or the refined. Both [rustic + refined] are equally as beautiful to me- but I also know its very hard to see the beauty and potential of the one unless it is contrasted for the perfect balance to off set the other so it can be seen instead of blend.. its my way of being direct in design. I know what I want my audience to see and feel and experience, so I execute to its fullest potential by way of contrast.
The mailbags were the full inspiration behind the handbags and actually the fashion line itself. I went to school for Interior Architecture_as my love for clean lines, utility, and construction methods is revealed,and was practicing, designing retail stores all over the globe- ex. Nordstrom, Harvey Nichols, Harrods in London etc- . There was actually a day I had to ask myself: Do I love designing these stores? or do I love designing these stores bc it feels like I’m making little homes for my true love_ fashion?
Fashion and Deisgn has always been my love and passion, something that has been a huge part of my life and seems to just make sense to me- it wasn’t something I worked on, it just was.
While walking around a local market here in Seattle, an old beat up mailbag caught my eye for one real reason- the leather. It had such a unique, beautiful character_ soft in touch, worn and beat into its stunning colors and texture_with the perfect “edge” for my style: rough but similarly soft, refined, unique and feminine.
I bought the mailbag from the street vendor, asking if for some reason I was to get even more inspired, if he had any more. he sighed/ grunted: he had “100 more if I wanted to take them off his hands.” Not knowing what I would do with it- but knew it was dying to be transformed… my long standing design mantra being: transforming the conventional in an unconventional way.
The design of the bag was the concept to it’s fullest potential. The concept: the envelopes that were once carried in these bags. Their v-shape, simple, functional, timeless, has been working for how long without complaints? Now that is good design…. I began daydreaming of the length of time, the who: carried/ wrote/ recieved, and what was information: love letters/ contracts/ the list goes on, carried by mailmen for 100 years?! So much history and the endless number of people who had their part in the bag or its contents. This story is what inspires me in the whole idea of “upcycling” _ there is so much more behind things, if they have already been “things”. It poses a design challenge of concept instead of the mundane idea of aesthetics only.
I also gave myself a challenge of my other long standing design concept: transforming the conventional into something refined, something unrecognizable, but when told what the original piece was: the reaction is almost always bright eyes and a look of “ohhhh_I see it now” I love watching people discover this. People Surprising Themselves. Understanding/ seeing something they once could not see. That point of realization that is enveloped in each and every one of my concepts is what I live for! That is the challenge. Function. Form. Good design. CONCEPT. Everything must have a reason, a use, a function. Nothing is just for looks. Adornment is the pits. Everything must work.
As for the future. I have found many items that inspire me… and that is what the next collection will be born from. I do not like to limit myself in terms of “what” I am designing. But finding things that inspire… Ampersand As Apostrophe is just that. A series of simple transformation symbols [found on your keyboard]- but almost always over looked. I have transformed them, slightly, just by spelling the words out. Their visual becomes elegant, difficult to read/ understand, but once the reader takes the extra second to read out loud, they are able to recognize these symbols…. and again say “ahhhh_I see it now” It is this Sense of Discovery that not only inspires and motivates me, but lets the reader or handbag wearer, in on the secret. In this case, its the secret of the mailbag, the history which made it’s character and flaws the things that make each handbag beautiful… and still surprises me!”.
Thanks so much to Jessica for this nice interview! 
