Joanna Umpleby — owner and maker of Umpie Handbags.

I learned to sew at the side of my gran, Mabel Hobday, an exceptional seamstress in Brighouse with patient hands and an unerring eye for detail.
We started with dolls' dresses and moved on to mini skirts. And all the while I watched her make beautiful outfits for ordinary women who wanted something personal, something special that was theirs alone. Somewhere in those hours of cutting and stitching, a lifelong passion took hold.

I went to art school, then to London, and in 1982 I joined Jane Shilton. I spent twenty years in the handbag industry there, latterly as their Design Director, on projects ranging from high street collections to working with the Emanuels on cabin crew bags for Virgin Atlantic. Handbags were always my thing. But Yorkshire never really let me go.

Umpie itself began without me. My sister and cousin started making bags on a small scale for charity stalls while I was living in Spain, and my sister came up with the name. Umpie comes from our family surname, Umpleby — we've all been Umps and Umples for generations, so it was never going to be called anything else. I joined them when I came home, and a few years later I took the business on myself.

Now I'm back in Northallerton, making bags on my own terms for the first time in my life. Every Umpie bag carries all of it: Gran Mabel's craft, decades of professional design behind me, and a clear idea of exactly what I want to make.

These aren't mass-produced accessories. They're handmade pieces with a story, made in Yorkshire, made to last, made to be loved.

The fabrics are as individual as the bags. Woven William Morris tapestry, authentic Kilim, Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides, luxurious metallics. I choose them because they stop me in my tracks. Once a fabric is gone, it's gone, so every piece is one of a kind.

Browse my complete collection of handmade bags to discover your perfect style, or explore my William Morris Handbags — iconic Arts & Crafts prints, individually made in my Yorkshire studio.

This is Umpie. And it's been a long time coming.

— Joanna