Leather and fabric, hand-sewn from sketch to assembly in the Landes
Three letters are enough to tell the story: A, M, E. They come from April & Me, the small accessories label launched in 2010 and renamed Ame at the end of 2018. The name changed, the method did not: Jessica designs every piece and makes it herself, from creation to final assembly, in her workshop in the Landes, with, as the brand puts it, a little piece of the Pays Basque in each one.
The leather is vegetable-tanned, thick and firm, and darkens slightly with use. It shapes handbags, bottle carriers worn across the body, passport covers and refillable notebook covers, whose small recycled-paper inserts are made in the workshop. On some pieces, an embossed mark, a pine cone, a bird or a leaf, makes the object personal. Fabric takes over for totes in heavy cotton canvas with leather handles, quilted pouches and scrunchies. Everything is made in limited runs, and the website shows what is leaving the workshop right now.
A maker who handles everything herself, from designing each piece to assembling it, in her workshop in the Landes. Vegetable-tanned leather whose patina darkens with use. And notebooks whose small recycled-paper inserts are themselves made by hand in her own workshop.
