BY MARIE meets

Edwina De Charette

The story of laContrie is first and foremost an adventure in passion.
That of Edwina de Charette de la Contrie for savoir-faire, craft,
noble materials and a fashion that takes the time to be pretty.

When she created laContrie in 2011, this creator from Brittany just wanted to design
the bag that she couldn't find elsewhere. She concentrates on the custom made,
meeting artisans and tanners and has undeniably caught the bug for hand-sewn goods

At a time when the ephemeral reigns, where does this passion for the handmade and meticulousness come from?
 

Probably from my family, who were very implicated in French luxury goods. It transmits a certain amount of exigence. But I don't know how I could do otherwise today. When you make bags yourself, you can't help appreciating having beautiful materials in your hands and making the perfect decorative finishes.

Did  you have a eureka moment when you started?
 

I just couldn't find the bag and the service I wanted. So I began a process of slow  leather making. I wanted to offer another way of consuming and having this essence  of quality on a daily basis. I wanted time not to be a problem, but rather to be beneficial, which would allow a bag to patina and to be passed from generation to generation.  

You recently created three models of bags with Marie Gas for BY MARIE  that you have never worked on before. What's the reason behind this collaboration?

I knew our styles were different, and that's when a collaboration becomes interesting. It was motivating to enter a universe that wasn't mine, and to create bags that resemble both of us. I think that's really what we did. they're colorful, feminine, audacious, like the BY MARIE world, yet like that of laContrie, too.