Luna Jaze

Exclusive handmade bags

Luna Jaze is a company that makes handmade, leather bags and wallets. Our exclusive high-bags are fully lined and adorned with antique buttons and with pockets for everything; lipstick, notebook, glasses, cell phone, and more. We also make Peace Bags, which are organically shaped, unlined, one of a kind bags and clutches of varying sizes and design. Ten percent of sales from the Peace Bags are donated to a charitable organization. Current donations are going to the Braddock library in Braddock, PA, as part of the "Go Forth Braddock" project that supports the gentrification of a decaying neighborhood.

For as long as I can remember I have always had a passion for art; I have been creating art since I was able to hold a paint brush. I have my B.A. in Fine Arts and have worked as an artist, but primarily in a two-dimensional form as a painter. Working in leather allows me to translate my training in two-dimensional art into three-dimensional leather art: my bags. Being a fabric artist has different freedoms from painting and I find it to be an addictive process.

I began making purses quite by chance after a purse that I loved fell apart. Repairs were refused by my cobbler, so I decided to try sewing with leather. Being a self taught seamstress, I thought; why not try making a purse? The first leather bag I made was a green pebbled Murphy bag, which caught the attention of a fellow Office Depot shopper who purchased my purse instead of his office supplies! That was the beginning of Luna Jaze. Luna Jaze is now run by my daughters and me.

Having a great network of family and friends allowed me to experiment with my new passion. They have tolerated and supported my business for many years (and still do), as I worked out the kinks inherent in working with an unforgiving medium. After several years of experimenting with different types of leathers, I have determined that using premium European leathers, primarily Italian, produces the finest bags. In the beginning I decorated my bags with my grandmother’s buttons, and I now use antique buttons and beads from all over the world.

All of the Luna bags are lined with a spiral-design fabric, and the outside is embossed with my “signature” spiral. As an artist I was introduced to Fibonacci’s number and the golden ratio in paintings. Mathematically, the golden ratio maps out as a spiral. Fibonacci’s number and how it relates to nature has always fascinated me: I have discovered that most everything in nature is in the form of a spiral. Over the years, my niece -who is also an artist (www.thepurplefern.etsy.com) -and I have exchanged gift items of spirals, and I thought of no better way to represent Luna Jaze than by using the symbol of the spiral. Wear your Art!