The Carolyna makeup bags are not just a feast for the eyes, they sooth the conscience as well. These gorgeous beauty-bags connect both upcycling and sustainability with the design requirements of LOHAS.

When I discovered the Carolyna clutches on Amazingy, I was immediately hooked. The use of fish skin, which is reminiscent of snakeskin, the gentle pastel colors and the intricate use of such a fabric in the designs – I was loving it. It wasn’t long before I got in touch with designer Carolyn Berkemeyer, and quickly learned more about the sustainable story behind her unique bags.

Carolyn originally intended to create the perfect cowboy boot, in a limited edition. Her HappyCowBoots would have a plain 80’s cowgirl style, with the difference being that they would be made using only natural and animal-friendly leather. That’s where the problems started. Carolyn, an original Berliner, had to search far and wide before she came across the Uria farm in the Swabian Alps. Here livestock is held in a humane manner, and their hides are tanned in a completely natural way, using vegetable products.

Having found the perfect type of leather, the next sustainability issue came knocking. What was she supposed to do with all the leftover pieces of leather? To prevent wasting the valuable material, she started sewing bags and clutches based on her own designs. “Since animals don’t come in predefined shapes and sizes, I had to work with odd pieces of leather,” she tells, explaining the somewhat unusual dual tone panels of leather on her bags.

Carolyna: Handmade bags from sustainable materials

The end result: unique bags in every sense of the word. Not just because each and every bag is handmade, but also because of the way the seams run across the clutches, going in every which direction the leather demands them too. “My clutches tend to be polarizing,” Carolyn admits. “Some people adore them, while others can’t stand the organic designs.” The effect is noticeable both amongst her circle of friends and her customers, she adds.

Leather from Uria

As soon as Carolyn starts to talk about her leather, she lights up. Uria is a family company in every sense of the word. The cattle live together in their own herd, with bulls and calves together. This is also where they die, shot by Uria founder Ernst Hermann Maier. The slaughter takes place in the yard, where they follow certain principals, one being refusing to slaughter calves.

The other material Carolyn often uses in her design is salmon leather, provided by a company called Salmon Leather. The fish are raised in an organic salmon farm in Ireland. “Salmon leather is very thin but sturdy at the same time, making it tear-resistant and durable,” Carolyn explains. The salmon skins are also tanned using organic products, which means chromium and other heavy metals do not come near the material. Afterwards, the skins are hydrophobicized, which allows the leather to keep its natural look and feel while being water resistant, protecting the bags from fluids and dirt.

Carolyna: The Pure Nanai leather makeup bag

Carolyna Clutch Rock’n Roses

It doesn’t end there: Carolyn also likes to create clutches from upcycled materials. She sources the most beautiful fabrics from flea markets, finds use in remnants from one of Berlin’s upholsterers, or gives pieces from Humana a second life in her bags. Carolyn also makes use of ethno-fabrics, which she receives through a co-operation in Guatamala.
Despite all the forethought and care the young designer puts into her products, she is well aware of their limitations. “Creating sustainable products is one of my biggest inspirations and motivations as a designer,” she says. What she creates and leaves behind she finds incredibly important. Yet, she knows that her products are vulnerable to critique. Carolyn often gets questioned on the use of leather, for instance, instead of a vegan alternative. It has also been pointed out to her that even upcycled materials stem from mass produced products. “I try to only offer products to the world that I have at least thought through to a great extent,” she says, while acknowledging her own individual sustainability filter. Carolyn knows by now how to deal with criticism:

I make sure that everything I do is done in a transparent way, and that I only use materials and products that I can stand behind myself. Anything else would eat away at my conscience.

Clutches made from organic canvas

The former communications student sews each bag by hand. “To create something using my own hands is very fulfilling to me,” she says. Her clutches are incredibly versatile, and can be used as a makeup bag, travel bag or as a clutch for a night out on the town.

Her plan for this year is to create clutches made from organic canvas, colored by Driftwood Fashion, a plant-dyed organic clothing company. Carolyn explains: “They dye their fabrics by hand, using only plants, roots and tubers. Driftwood Fashions workplace looks like a witches kitchen to me, with all the used material soaked, boiled and dyed in large pots.” The first pieces of canvas have just gotten finished by the time we did this interview, and Carolyn was happy to reveal that there will be lots of indigo in her new line of products. Another thing happening this year is the premier of her HappyCowBoots to Europe, for now only a limited amount on offer.

Her parting words after our interview is to wish Uria lots of encouragement with their struggle to continue running their company as they do at the moment. “Uria is going through a bureaucratic nightmare to be able to keep their cattle in the fields, and to be able to continue slaughtering them in the humane way they prefer.” For anyone more interested in the humane way of herding, she wholeheartedly recommends the book Der Rinderflüsterer (The Cattle Whisperer), written by Uria founder Ernst Hermann Maier.

*English translation by Csilla Liptai