So writes Emily Bronte in her poem ‘Fall, leaves, fall’. It is a season of many moods, not always blissful ones but rich with change and colour. We’ve got some blissful, colourful things coming up this fall, and we hope to see you all at some of them! Members Art Market, The Joe Center for the Arts, September and October 2025 This is the second … Continue reading Every leaf speaks bliss to me…
It’s been the most beautiful spring in Atlanta this year, with such amazing colors. It all bodes well for the Inman Park Festival coming up this weekend, on April 26 and 27. We are so excited to have been selected again to be part of the juried arts & crafts market at this amazing festival! Inman Park Festival began more than 50 years ago and … Continue reading Springtime!
Summer is here, and it’s been a mixed bag of weather – rainy in London, steamy in Atlanta – and we have a mixed bags of news to report. Sadly, our shared shop in London will be closing at the end of August. We’ll still be making and selling bags, but our showroom will be our home-based studio, at least until we can find a … Continue reading A mixed bag of a summer
We are so excited to have been selected to take part again in the juried arts & crafts market at the amazing Inman Park Festival this year! Inman Park Festival, which began in the 1970s, celebrates the neighbourhood of Inman Park, one of Atlanta’s oldest residential areas. It’s full of gorgeous houses, splendid parks, and wonderful people, and the festival includes a tour of houses … Continue reading Spring fling!
In her book The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St Clair writes that ‘[a] certain distaste for colour runs through Western culture like a ladder in a stocking’. A distraction from form, dishonest, even sinful – these are some of the many attitudes towards vibrant colour expressed by Westerners, from Herman Melville to Le Corbusier. Colour, when used, was often highly controlled and hugely political … Continue reading Bursts of colour
We’ve been enjoying working with some new shweshwe fabric we bought on a recent trip to Cape Town in South Africa. It’s such a treat for all the senses – sight and touch and even taste and smell! Shweshwe is a printed cotton fabric that’s distinctive to South Africa. The most well known is the Three Cats brand, produced by Da Gama Textiles, which is … Continue reading A swishy multicultural delight
Bledsoe Bags people are one-of-a-kind people. We think you’re so great, we made a little film about you. Happy New Year, and thanks for all your support this year! Continue reading One-of-a-kind people
‘Everything I did, I saw it through a tropical eye’, said textile designer Althea McNish. ‘I am a citizen of the world and I am multicultural.’ We love the sentiment and are inspired by her work, and we’ve produced a limited edition range using her vibrant patterns that revolutionised postwar design in Britain. McNish (1924-2020) came to the UK from Trinidad in 1950 and became … Continue reading ‘I am a citizen of the world…’
Read on to find out more about our upcoming in-person events….and to get a feel for the delights of upcycling….. Transformations It’s satisfying to turn a piece of clothing, no longer wanted, into a much-wanted Bledsoe Bag! We find you need to let the piece sit a while until it speaks to you, telling you what kind of bag it wants to be. Or bags! … Continue reading Spring events…and more upcycling action
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