'Favela' crocheted handbag - the inspiration behind the product

Getting inspired by pictures and images

One of my favourite weekend pursuits is walking to the corner shop and buying the Sunday Times.  It's quite a heavy bundle.  The first thing I do on returning home is throw everything away except the glossy supplements.  I'm a crochet addict so I have very little time. I perch on the nearest chair, stool or table, tear open the cellophane wrapper and sniff out the Style and Culture magazines. Ah, Sundays.

In about five minutes I've flicked through all the pictures, been inspired, disappointed and educated in equal measure and normally the magazines lie around the kitchen until bin day on Friday.

This is where my story differs.  

On this day, there's a photo of one of Rio's largest favelas.  A section about Beckham is in there too, his humbling trip around Brazil's rainforest. But it's the photograph which grabs me:

I love aerial views in general, but there was something special about the geometric patterns places in random fashion which piqued my creativity.  I saw depth of colour, even though the overall image is drab.  Hyacinth blue, navy, lemon, sap green, cream, mauve as well as beige, the shade of straw matting.  Nothing would do that I didn't rush to my yarn stash and try some on.

At this stage I was missing the mauve but I got straight to it and made my first few squares.  

I knew from the start it would have to be a patchwork of shapes and colours.  How else to create all those rooftops, windows and balconies.  I also knew it would have to look homely, soft and inviting.  These were people's homes after all, a community of wives and children, husbands and shop keepers, schools and churches.  Looking closely at the picture I could see people on the rooftops.  Wondering what they were doing right at that moment cranked up production.  It was as though each square I crocheted was a home of its own. And yes, I do know how weird that sounds.

Soon, I chose the right shade of mauve to create the shadows of late afternoon and began to experiment with positioning of the squares.

I was looking for directional sunlight and trying to remake some of the images, albeit very loosely on the canvas.  I discovered it wasn't going to work out like that.  I didn't like some of the juxtaposition of colours and textures.  Believe it or not, at this stage I still didn't know what I was making and it was difficult to distance myself from the favela to view what I was making as a new product.

The moment my mind made that switch though, it was game on!  Nancy came out to play:

Getting creative with surface crochet in a sparkling thread allowed me to draw on the windows, drain pipes and doorways and add the bright glitter of sunlight to the soft, matt fabric.  It began to feel more Nancy-like, something real that consumers would see as a desirable accessory.  The inspiration, so vital at the start, now conceded to its fate.

I finally knew what I was making.  The squares I'd already joined together had to be turned 90' clockwise. Light and shade, structure and architecture now no longer mattered.  And just as well, for the whole product took on renewed impetus.  The detail at the top, worked in brown and navy, became windows of tower blocks overlooking the favela - not in the photo but implied by our top-down view.

There was nothing left now but to choose the handles and lining. 

I was hoping for a patterned lining, something equally detailed to reinforce the theme.  But in the end, the plain silk lining won out, more successful because it enhanced the bag's highly textured exterior and was also luminous, adding some South American sunshine.

I chose the wooden handles from a recycled handbag.  I love their length, texture and shape.  The fact that they are recycled plays to the likely reality of life in the slums were everything is kept, preserved and reused.

I'm truly surprised and delighted with the finished result, a bag so soft and cheerful in spite of itself.  This project has completely change my approach to production and I must say, I love it!