Photo courtesy of Angela Valentine Handbags.
The next big name in handbags hails from an unlikely locale: the quaint Minnesota River valley town of New Ulm. Angela Olson recently took home a Best Handmade Handbag award in a competition sponsored by InStyle magazine—not bad for a former graphic designer who only launched her brand, Angela Valentine Handbags, in 2013. The colorful collection of totes, clutches, bucket bags, hobos, satchels, pouches, wallets, fringed keychains, and tassel belts are made one at a time out of Olson’s 1870s home studio. While each piece is designed, patterned, made, and shipped out of small-town Minnesota, these stylish yet utilitarian bags wouldn’t be out of place on the boroughs of New York City nor the streets of Paris. angelavalentinehandbags.com
