Hackwith Design House—the Minneapolis-based clothing line by Lisa Hackwith known for its easy, chic silhouettes in textural fabrics and neutral tones—has been a proponent of collaborations since it launched about five years ago, regularly releasing capsule collections tailored to specific shops such as Cliché, Grethen House, and Parc Boutique. Last spring, the brand launched a new collaborative series. Dubbed Makers Alongside Hackwith, the series taps the designer’s favorite makers in Minnesota and beyond to create a collaborative product spanning ceramics, textiles, prints, and jewelry, with releases taking place twice a month.
[Related: In the Studio with Hackwith Design House]
This week’s featured product, the final collaboration of the year, was designed in collaboration with Talin Spring, a Minneapolis-based designer. Spring was born in Istanbul to a European family of shoemakers and spent half of her life in France before moving to Minnesota in 2006, when she founded her company, Spring Finn & Co., a line of hand-oiled leather bags and hand-painted canvas market totes inspired by horse grooming buckets, vintage doctors’ bags, and Parisian farmer’s market satchels.
The fruit of their collaboration is a minimalist-chic, hand-stitched tote bag—the perfect home-to-work bag that is polished enough to carry over to post-work happy hour.
I wanted to find out a little more about the collaborative process between Hackwith and Spring for this product, and this is what they had to say:
Lisa, how did you first become familiar with Talin’s work?
Lisa: I actually first met with Talin to discuss sourcing fabric and seeing if she had any fabric that would work for apparel. She was so sweet; she treated me to madeleines and tea in her beautiful studio. I got to see her products in person, and I just loved her aesthetic and incredible designs.
What was the design/creative process like? How did you come around to the idea of this bag specifically?
Lisa: It was pretty straightforward. Talin and I just sat down and discussed a few options. We built on items she’s already done to come up with something unique for HDH. Talin recommended using the tassel details, and we loved how it turned out.
Talin: It was a wonderful collaboration—easy, simple, effortless. HDH gave me the the color and the size specifications, and they were happy with my first proposal.
Can you tell me more about the design?
Talin: The material is basically a 100% water-resistant and -repellent nylon and the lining is denim with a hand-stenciled tag. The handles are hand-cut and -stitched black leather with two tassels on each side in leather. All the materials were sourced In the U.S.
Spring Finn & Co. x HDH Tote Bag, $225, available now @ hackwithdesignhouse.com
[Images courtesy Hackwith Design House]
