Q & A | SKINNY VINNY

The Sal

A new entrant to the ever rapidly growing pool of bag makers, is Brooklyn based designer Vincent Lai, who's already earning his keep in the game with his brand, Skinny Vinny. Vincent reached out to me with his spring collection and I jumped at the chance to feature the line. It's not every day that a freshman effort offers such a nicely curated, unified and well crafted range. From the simple City Slicker Tote to The Sal, a convertible backpack/carry-all, each model remains understated while answering to a distinct functional need. My favorite is the Rowan, soon to be available in the fall, a backpack that looks easy-breezy but is made of heavy duty canvas and contains plenty of pockets for everything you might need in the urban wilderness - from pocket knife to laptop.

The Rowan
Submit pre-order inquiries here

Covering the bags was a no brainer but I wanted to scratch the surface a bit on this emerging designer, and was lucky enough that Vincent was willing to answer a few questions about himself, the brand and the products. I urge you to take a peak at the line and get to know the brand; I have a feeling, and not just because of my flagrant Brooklyn pride, it'll be one to watch. - M

The Sig Other: First, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Vincent Lai: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, So a Brooklynite to the core. I come from a family of sewers and makers in the garment industry and grew up in and around factories. For college, I attended Carnegie Mellon University and graduated with an Industrial Design Degree in 2006.

TSO: So how did Skinny Vinny come to be?
After graduating from college, I worked for a design consultancy in Lower Manhattan, Soho area. After about a year, I decided that it was time for a change. I wanted to combine my product design education with the soft goods and pattern-making knowledge I gained growing up in a garment factory. As a child, I would sometimes help my mother at her job in a garment factory in Brooklyn. I would cut loose threads, do some sewing, ironing, or even just sweep the floor. As I was looking for a new job, I had some sketches and ideas for bags. I made some samples just to get it out of my head. I sent some photos to my friends and out of the blue, a blog picked it up and then another blog and another. I started to get some orders and I thought “hmm… maybe, I can do this for a living?” I stopped my job search, and been doing Skinny Vinny ever since.

Does the brand have a mission or perspective?
We strive to create straight-forward, no-fuss products you can use everyday. We give special and careful attention to craft and quality. Since all our products are made in limited quantities by my small family of artisans and myself, individual variation and that special level of human touch is guaranteed.

The City Slicker Tote

What is your design approach?
I always find myself thinking about new bags, new shapes and new ways of carrying things. I can be out with friends and I find myself drifting off thinking about it. I love people watching, watching how one interacts or stumble with their bags is a huge source of inspiration for me. How the bag falls or hugs the body, or what problems they seem to have with their bags is very helpful to my process. Through watching, I usually have a direction and sketching helps me find the right shape and proportions. I sometimes make quick and fast muslin samples just to test out the proportions and usability. Then I jump on my computer to refine the design and make the tech packs. I won’t really know if the bag is successful or not until I get a final working sample. After I give the "okay" for a new design, we make the production in small batches. I number each one and I keep a log of where each bag is going, whether they're are going to a store or to a person. I love keeping things personal like that.

What are your thoughts on the current collection?
Our collection is usually not seasonal, we usually have injections where we introduce a new product here and there. It's easier to manage that way since we are a small brand and it's usually just me.  For the Spring season, The Sal convertible bag is my favorite. Just the functionality of it and the versatility is quite successful in my opinion. It has been quite popular.

The Sal, in all its multi-functional glory

Could you elaborate on the materials you use?
Our products have been predominantly cotton. Mostly cotton canvas and a few leather detailing here and there. We like using natural fibers. However, we are defiantly going to be looking into some tech fabrics. There's a lot of possibilities of new types of bags we can create with those kinds of materials.

What are your future plans for Skinny Vinny?
Currently, I'm all booked up for the next 6 months! I would love a vacation, but I can't take one as of yet. We have orders to make and fulfill for the Fall. However, we will be working with some stores releasing new styles exclusive to their store and the city they're located in. There's a store in Hong Kong that I'm really excited to collaborate with. I'm always looking to collaborate with people, weather in the design industry or not, the experience will help me grow as a person and as a designer.

The Rowan

// skinny-vinny.com
// skinny-vinny shop

Q & A | SYMMETRY GOODS S/S 2011

Today is a fantastic day, not least of all because the Symmetry Goods much anticipated S/S collection is finally available online.  Needless to say, I'm genuinely thrilled to write this post – I've been admiring this label for it's ethos, quality and spirit for quite some time now.

Symmetry Goods was founded in 2010 by LA based husband and wife team, Ted Byrnes and Gena Tuso. To read about their beginnings and their first collection, check out the great post by Brad of Commerce With A Conscience, whom I credit with introducing me to the brand in the first place.  In December I had the great pleasure of purchasing a piece for myself and I have yet to take it off, so I'm a first hand believer: Symmetry is the real deal.

I recently reached out to Ted with questions about the company and was impressed by his responses regarding their ethic, evolution and approach, so without further fanfare, check out the Q &A below and head on over to the shop to scope out the goods.  - M

Silverstone Scarf

The Sig Other: Your pieces are definitely modern but have a kind of timeless, traditional edge to them, do you mean to strike that balance? 

Ted Byrnes: Interesting question. We, like a lot of folks, respond to things that are timeless in aesthetic, but also things that solve problems in the way that design can. 

The brand was launched with the idea that we could make accessories 'function' better. It all started with the scarf - the idea that the wearer can customize the piece each time they wear it, pretty dramatically, and that the piece will stay put. It was an aesthetic thing as much as it was a practical one. The bulk of the aesthetic stuff lies in the manufacturing; i.e., what fabrics we decide to use, the hardware, color of the grommets, etc. I think the traditional element is that our collection really is all made by hand.

How does that approach translate into this collection?

Each piece is cut and sewn by one person. The leather to back the grommets is stamped out by one person, the grommets are put in one by one by the same person, and its usually me that ends up assembling the hardware I think folks can tell when something is really handmade. That's important to us. The idea of these pieces is that you'll have and wear them forever, and we want people to feel that. The fabric selection, especially for our debut season with the Woolrich fabrics definitely had a traditional feel; the fabrics lend themselves to that.

Belt w/ Hook

I love the hooks that were made for the spring season. Can you talk about what inspired them? And how they were made?

They are actually pretty common little hooks that usually have applications in leather goods We liked how super functional they look, and how the look with leather specifically, especially with the Dixon which turns into a tote bag. Kind of a play, (and very much a literal view), of hardware. They are cast here in the States. We also had some Pelican hooks hand cast for the small leather goods, and changed the scope and scale of them to make them much smaller than they usually tend to be.

What is your philosophy surrounding quality?

It's all about quality. I would say that's the benchmark of the brand. Working with like-minded people/companies that make things that last is literally of the utmost importance to us. We don't skimp on anything, and we take this very seriously.  Producing goods in this day and age you have to be very careful, which is why we either get everything custom-made or from very good sources.  

This is also how we live our lives just in general; we don't eat fast food, we shop very ethically and eat artisinally as much as humanly possible; we eat/drink very consciously, we support brands/people doing good and ethical stuff, always the small guy first. Our whole viewpoint of life is quality over quantity, and the business is really just an extension of that. 

The American design and craft scene is in a really exciting spot right now. As a part of it, what are your impressions?

I think it's awesome. the breadth of talent/brands/folks doing quality work is great - from Timo Weiland to Corter Leather and everyone in between. I think we are all trying to keep some tradition alive and also give America back some of its manufacturing. Some folks refer to it as a trend, we don't think its a trend -  it's consumers buying quality made goods made by people who love what they do and support ethical manufacturing.  Sure, some aspects of it might fall away, but the way that people are viewing the way that they buy/use things is changing, and for the better.

Cardew Kerchief

Any collaborations we should look out for, (fingers crossed!)?

yes, we are doing a collaboration with Layerxlayer here at some point soon. Really, really looking forward to it. We see a lot of ourselves in them in many ways and I think vice versa. Can't say enough good stuff about them and what they do. There may or may not be a couple other things in the works for this year that are very exciting. More on that as it develops!

Looking into the future, how do you see Symmetry line evolving?

In terms of evolution, we will stay with accessories, I don't see us moving into RTW at all. What we are aiming towards for next fall is having a collection where everything works together, in one capacity. There will be a very key hardware element that will transform into a variety of things and serve a lot of functions within the collection. We are incredibly excited about it. We can't wait for people to see it. 

_______________

**Editor's note**
If you're a lady, or buying for a lady, it's imperative that you check out the Dixon scarf (right) that doubles as a bag. I know, brilliant.
Finally, I want to give a huge thank you to Ted for taking the time to answer these Q's and for Gena for creating another inspired line. Can't wait to see where Symmetry goes in 2011!