Roll up your sleeves and make room for another ‘it’ bag – Maisha will be the bag in the crook of everyone’s arm this season.
Profiled at London Fashion Week, the up-and-coming label designs and produces a range of luxury must-have handbags and men’s accessories. The capsule accessories collection is designed to bring “an element of luxury into the practical side of life”.
Leading the way in creating ethically responsible luxury handbags, Maisha uses exotic skins to create beautiful, wearable pieces. Started in January 2009 by owner and designer Sasha Saretta Muller, Maisha began after Sasha took a life-changing trip to Bali, Indonesia. At a small independent store Sasha fell in love with the array of gorgeous local skins on display and couldn’t resist the opportunity to design her own unique handbag.
Later that year on a trip to San Francisco, Sasha was flattered and amazed when passersby asked where they could buy her design! One woman even offered her money there and then to purchase it from her. “I never looked for exotic,” Sasha laughs. “It found me and I merely embraced it!”
The name Masha means “life” in Swahili and was inspired by the idea that we all carry our lives in our bags. For Sasha herself, this is especially true: as someone who lives the life of a bohemian nomad, splitting her time between Bali, Singapore, London and Cape Town, Sasha spends a lot of time on planes with her life quite literally in her bag!
She is happy to admit that she gets her best inspiration while in transit and believes her international lifestyle brings a worldwide flavour to Maisha.
Wherever her travels and imagination takes her, Sasha remains true to her core idea of responsible creating. Maisha uses a range of ethically sourced skins to create its bags, including Adriatic snake, python, lizard and stingray. She believes that it’s important to use leftover products in new and innovative ways and is proud of the ways that Maisha will be using salmon and snapper fish skin discarded after eating to create beautiful, luxury products.
As someone who freely admits to being fascinated by the way minds, it’s no surprise that Sasha describes her ideal customer as freethinking and accomplished. Her ideal customer is a stylish and accomplished woman who appreciates craftsmanship and quality.
