Durchzug

The making of – Photo shoot collection 2012

Carmen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:37:54 +0000

The Team: Kerstin zu Pan, Photography, Shirin Kuerschner, Make up, Ronette Liebenberg, Model …….. & Me

Location: Riebeek Kasteel & West Coast National Park, Western Cape South Africa

Headed off in the City Bowl at 5.30 in the morning with the most beautiful atmosphere heading up the West Coast, via Malmesbury to Riebeek Kasteel. For everyone new to SA, you must visit. It is the sweetest town with the friendliest people you can find. Arrived at the Royal Hotel at 7 in the morning and the staff was just the best. Thanks so much!!

The Royal Hotel with its huge veranda. Must be the biggest stoep in Southern Africa…

if you ever visit The Square on Short Street. Don’t forget to do lunch at the Bar Bar Black Sheep and browse through the Ancient Spirit store for treasure finds

Shirin with her famous eagle eyes doing the last touch ups before the shot

Had a mouth watering late breakfast at Cafe Felix. They also have a beautiful guest house on their grounds. The Old Oak Manor. Book the Loft. You won’t want to leave.

Kerstin fell in love with this chair at Cafe Felix. So, the ladies carried it across the road under this beautiful bougainvillea. Wait till you see the end result. It looks like an unreal wonder forest full of blossoms.

Up the pass from Riebeek heading to the West Coast National Park

What a beautiful day. Thanks to the whole team. Shirin for your professionalism and pleasant working mood, Kerstin for being such a great artist and friend and Ronette for doing a great job! It was a pleasure working with you guys. Can’t wait for the shots!

The trench story

Carmen — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:54:57 +0000

I’ve always wanted to tell you the full story to my skinny trench collection… so here it comes. I had this runway picture from an old ELLE magazine in my purse for – well – don’t know exactly how long but it was a looooooong time. The detail on this trench coat planted a seed in my brain and it started turning all around it. So now and then I’d let it out of my purse for a bit and off it went, back in. And there it sat and made me start.

After the first sample run we realized there needed to be some oumph in the bag. My friend came along wearing this g-star trench coat – so. The ingredients were set.

The last mockup was done before the real run.

The flap symbolizes the belt of the coat.

I had hoped to find the photo of the first serious sample but I’m afraid I deleted it. It looked shocking and I dug my head in the sand. But I’ve learnt it always is like that. Imagination takes some time to correspond with reality. Though, I have truly fallen in love with the colours we’ve settled in for.

The new collection is available in our internet shop to date. The clutch bag and the purse will be posted in the shop soonest. If you can’t wait. Please contact me anytime.

Happy Valentines !

Carmen — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:14:28 +0000

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Wish you all a day filled with love. The quote on the picture is from one of Keri Muller’s prints.

Interview with Nikki Williams, Personal Assistant at the manufacture

Carmen — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:03:26 +0000

Good morning world. Our second interview with great colorful people is with Nikki. She is basically the one who keeps all strings together. And on top of all she is my memory prop. She is the link between the factory and me and knows exactly what is going on. She is also responsible of analyzing my designs and telling me to the inch how much leather and how much hair on skin is used for each model.

Nikki, do you like what you do?
yes

What else would you do if you weren’t Personal Assistant?
I would work in Human Resources

What is the best part of your job?
Dealing with customers and liaising with factory staff

What makes you tick?
I love interacting with people

Do you love Cape Town? Why?
Yes – it’s the people and their friendly nature

What is the best thing about being South African?
The mixture of all the other religions and cultures

Your favorite food?
Seafood

Your favorite music?
R&B music

What do you wish for South Africa?
We can sort out our parliament

Your dream?
Our underprivileged can be well educated so that they can work themselves out of poverty.

Thank you Nikki!

Appletizer Country

Carmen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:50:22 +0000

Had a wonderful night at the Old Mac Daddy in Elgin. If you are keen on seeing Apple Country from an exquisite location – this is the place to go. It is a luxury trailer park that’s lets you forget instantly. Each trailer has a theme interpreted by local designers. Wild stuff! But, it’s not only the crazy caravans – loads of space on the veranda to have that little piece of outdoor experience. The views of the valley are stunning, the staff goes that extra mile and the whole place is so well looked after.

A game of scrabble at the pool with a glass of wine at the side and all this in the freshest air, listening to nature.

…… and a tiny bit of home sickness during dinner in the barn which looks like an apres ski bar in the alps. The food is great! Fresh herbs from the garden – tasty pizza from the wooden oven and a glass of red from bobs your uncle.

thank you zuppi for a great time! www.kerstinzupan.com
thank you old mac daddy www.oldmacdaddy.co.za

Interview with Dennis Schouw, cutter at the manufacture

Carmen — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:17:09 +0000

I would like to present you an interview with the wonderful people around our bags from time to time. This category is called colourful people because I believe the expression fits our multicultural city.

It is a pleasure to have the first interview with Dennis, the cutter at our manufacture. We are so glad to have him. I tried cutting one piece of my bags at one stage and of course hopelessly failed. Thanks to Dennis’ precise planning and cutting skills we are able to minimize our leather wastage but also we can be assured that all our bags are the right size and colours.

Dennis, do you like what you do?
yes

What else would you do if you weren’t a cutter?
I would have my own business.

What is the best part of your job?
When the product is finished. You as a cutter can say that you are the one that started the product and to be proud of it.

What makes you tick?
I love what I do.

Do you love Cape Town? Why?
Yes. I love Cape Town because we’ve got a jewel which is one of the seven wonders of the world. That makes Cape Town so unique.

What is the best thing about being South African?
I am proud to be a South African cause it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world that we can all explore.

Your favorite food?
Potjiekos and pasta.

Your favorite music?
Jazz

What do you wish for South Africa?
I wish the best for South Africa (our country)

Your dream?
To travel the world.

Thank you Dennis!

Kudu Leather

Carmen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:47:09 +0000

Well, my blog should be a happy place to read but I guess it should also be a place where you get some info about facts and figures in our trade.

Sometimes people ask me how much a roll of leather costs which gets my mind pretty turned. One shouldn’t forget where leather actually comes from. Because yes, it does come from the beautiful bokkies in this country which do need to get culled to keep the whole cycle of life going. And yes, the cow hides do actually come from the beautiful cows we see on the side of the street which land on our plates.

I was very sad yesterday when I heard that the situation of the foot and mouth disease is actually more severe than thought. This does have an effect on availability of certain leathers as a lot of the herds have disappeared due to the disease.

I am very fortunate to buy my leather and hides from a supplier which I can trust 100% to only sell legal products. So please bear with us if products are not available. It will be for a reason.

Designer-Maker Artisan Market

Carmen — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:44:08 +0000

We will be exhibiting at the Designer-Maker Artisan Market from Dec 14 to Dec 16. This festive exhibition will take place in the courtyard behind the Freeworld Design Centre and the Hemelhuijs Restaurant. Find excuisite gifts while you sip on a glass of wine, have some good food and listen to live music – couldn’t get better. The market is part of the WalkCapeTown initiative which aims to re-energise the Fan walk.

A few of my favorite exhibitor picks:

KERI MULLER

Absolutely blown away by the crazy stuff this lady does with paper. The sculptures are amazing. Her printed illustrations with quotes on them sound as if they have popped out of a dream box.

CASAMENTO

For my love of nostaliga

TAMARILLO CERAMICS

Because I have this thing going on with SA ceramics. I could never choose my favorite – they just all make beautiful stuff which you can never get enough of

BELOVED BEADS

Anna brings dimension into beads. Her designs are quite something you will most probably never have seen before. And besides, she is the most wonderful person to have at the stall next to yours at a three day exhibition.

HEMELHUIJS RESTAURANT

My hubby is quite an energy burning machine. So for him food is more about quantity than quality. Hemelhuijs is the only restaurant ever where he actually paused after the first bite, looked at me a bit dazzled and said. wow, this food is really really tasty!

Trench Coating !

Carmen — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:12:11 +0000

Below is a little mood board I put together for my 2012 collection.

I fell in love with the detail of the trench coat in the middle of the picture and thought it would be a great shape for outside pockets of a bag.

Took it from there and started trench coating !