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Local handbag designer Annie Williams never imagined that she would make a living creating leather goods. She was on the fast-track to a recording career, having picked up her life to move from Wyoming to Nashville for a record label. Turns out, the label wasn't a good fitand she nearly lost her creative purity in the process.
'It was like all of a sudden I had eyes on my music and I couldn't find that spot again where I was writing genuinely,” she explains.
Seeking an outlet that wasn't clouded by other people's expectations, Williams turned to sewing. She'd worked as a seamstress in Wyoming, making canvas climbing and chalk bags, so she started up again, borrowing industrial machines when she could and eventually selling a line to local rock climbing gym, Climb Nashville. A stash of leather scraps found in a friend's studio inspired her to experimentsoon, she was buying hides and shopping for her own industrial machine.
'I wanted to continue working with leather, but I didn't want to start making bags by hand,” she says. After scoring her dream machine for a steal, she conjured up a line of totes and clutches inspired by the minimalist aesthetic she experienced out West.
'I want a bag that works in every setting, but is super durableI want it to look amazing on the red carpet, but I also want it to be something you could take into to the climbing gym,” she explains. And so far, that versatility has scored her big fans: Actress Casey LaBow, among others, has been spotted with her designs.
Williams spends most days (and nights) in her studio surrounded by rolls of leather hand-selected from the Horween Leather Company in Chicago. She started out using mostly black and shades of brown and gray, but has recently added muted greens and blues to her lineup. Each pattern is cut by hand and stitched together with a heavy-duty coated thread, creating a durable, long-lasting, and gorgeous leather product. Boutiques in Nashville, Leiper's Fork, and Jackson Hole are clamoring for more of her merchandise, which is why Williams is in full-fledged planning mode. She wants to add a zippered weekender bag to her spring line and pieces of heavily knitted wool will give texture and dimension to her standby clutch. She's also kicking around the idea of working with canvas.
'I still feel like the bags are completely genuineeven if I didn't have a business I would be making bags,” she says. 'I obviously didn't think I was coming here to start a bag business, but this has brought me back to where I used to be with music. I'm so thankful for where it's brought me.”
Available at Absolution or at Annie Williams' studio, 100 Taylor St., Germantown; annie-williams.com