The bag “Spacie” from the current Stiebich & Rieth collection in the color cobalt blue*

When Julia Rieth and Detlfef Stiebich first met in Hamburg, they both worked as designers for the brand Joop, before they started to work for other labels. There, products were created on the computer, which started to bother both of them after a certain time and so they founded their own label to work on the product directly. Since 2012, handbags under the name Stiebich & Rieth are being made in traditional handicraft – made in Germany. The design duo recently got awarded the “Young Designers Award” for their craftsmanship.

Detlef Stiebich at work: All seams are prepunched in order to achieve accurate seam courses

MyStylery: Lots of the coveted designer bags come from France and Italy. Your handbags are handcrafted in Germany. Do these facts build a persuasive argument to spread your luxury segment internationally?
Detlef Stiebich: “Made in Germany” yes, but ‘handmade’ wasn’t easy in the beginning, because the purchasers got the illusion of something like arts and crafts. There was a big need of information. The breakthrough came at the Paris fashion week, where the German fashion label ODEEH offered to show our bags.

The leather comes from Italy, France and Spain and is vegetable tanned. Only natural ingredients are used as tanning agents such as tannins, chestnuts, roots, fruits or mimosa

MS: You renounce computer drafts and sketches. Your handbags are being made on the table, directly out of the material and out of your inspirations.
DS: That’s right. And before the production starts, Julia is wearing each prototype so that we can find out what we can still improve. That’s how we also design the details of our bags, as well asthe colouring, the closing mechanisms and the internal divisions. And if Julia says that nobody would wear that, one has to think from the beginning again.

All handmade: Due to the thickness of the leather, the two-needle technique is used. A bag has up to 45 items

MS: That sounds time-consuming.
DS: Absolutely (laughs). I also underestimated this in the beginning. For example in the beginning we always had problems with the knotting of the yarn at the end of the seam. So I went to Paris to Hermès to get a demo how to do it right. It takes weeks to finish a handbag. It already starts with the material: we process vegetable-tanned, solid saddle-leather, which is manufactured with an extra saddler stich due to the thickness of the leather. Luckily we found a leather manufacturer near Hamburg, who understands and commands the art of “hand-stitch-processing”. We’re accompanying each stage of the production process.

Two collections are created per year, ten different bag types in four or five colors. The bags cost between 800, – and 2.500, – Euros

MS: Your handbags are sold in Hamburg in luxury boutiques like “Linette” to the corresponding prices. Why does the client choose your product, when she could investigate a similar amount in an established brand?
DS: The simplicity and objectivity of our design convinces. Our client is self-confident and doesn’t define herself by special brand, of which everybody knows the price. Our client also wants another handbag: One, which not everybody owns. BvH

MyStylery loves… the Saddlebag “Hunter” from the latest collection. The must-have of the season!*

Kontakt:
www.stiebich-rieth.de

Featured pic and Photos* by Stiebich & Rieth

The post Dream-Bags by Stiebich & Rieth appeared first on My Stylery.

The Living Room; On the left the painting “The Wall”. To get it into the house, a door and its frame had to be expanded

What do Berlin’s VIP Stylist Udo Walz, TV-Lady Sabine Christiansen and former US President Bill Clinton have in common? All of the above own a painting of the artist Freddy Reitz. For 17 years the German-American and her family have been living in a 1928 built mansion, seemingly english lodge, in Berlins district Zehlendorf. Being brought up in Dallas, the fervent Cowboy Boots and Converse wearer adresses the East-West issues in her works, in which apart from the famous Heinz Ketchup Bottle the American Flag is strongly represented. Recently seen in a special edition for the marque Smart.

The artist Freddy Reitz in the Entrée of her Berlin home

MyStylery: Congratulations! Your painted Smart is soon to be seen in the Daimler Museum in Stuttgart.
Freddy Reitz: Thank you. It is the first art car produced in series.

“The Wall” – a throwback to the wall – was built within three years. The red star next to it – also from Freddy Reitz – symbolizes the Russian sector

Even the guest room shows its colors

MS: You often use the US Flag as a theme. Can this be seen as a triubte to your home?
FR: Yes, amongst other things. It is a form of confession and pride. Americans are patriots to the core. Even before 9/11 the US Flag is the greatest good, and Freedom. I have never understood that there are people which still wish for the DDR.

Sculpture by Hede Buhl and the work “Cokebox” by Freddy Reitz

Helmut Newtons „Sumo“-Book, „Love Guns“ by Arne Quinze (2008)

MS: In your home there are, besides artists like Rainer Fetting, Hede Bühl or Arne Quinze, a lot of your own paintings…
FR: …as, for example, „The Wall“ which is so huge, that we had to remove the door and doorframe to get it into the house. I can’t have enough paintings of my own around me. But, I especially love Arne Quinze’s „Love Guns“ who I got to meet in Miami through Barbara Becker. However, I had to promise not to remove the Guns from the boxes (laughing).

Figures of the French wall-painter Thierry Noir, which are owned by Freddy Reitz for more than 20 years

Infront of the artwork “troubleshooters” by Freddy Reitz, a bronze sculpture by Karl Hartung (1948) on an art deco sideboard. On the left the World Cup football 2014, signed with all players signatures

MS: In your works as well as your home the color red is very dominant. How come?
FR: Red is multifarious and emanates comfort. I would not be able to live in cool, designer rooms. I need a surrounding in which my soul can rest.

Still life in the living room

The view into the garden from the library

“Red Star” by Freddy Reitz

Freddy Reitz’ “Coke-Boxes” and the tablelamp “Table Gun” by Philippe Starck – it is modeled on a Kalashnikov, an invitation to peace

MS: You studied communcation sciences before you discovered painting on a proffesional basis…
FR: …just because my parents didnt support me in my art at first. I have always painted, and enjoyed it. When I had my daughter, my first easel was standing in the restroom, I later on moved on to the bathroom. I don’t work there anymore though (laughing).

For her Coke-box projects in 2007, the passionate Pepsi drinker Freddy Reitz donated a neighboring school pallets of Coke to work with the empties

Freddys artwork “Crazy Ketchup” in the diningroom

MS: There are a lot of people who feel like artists, but not everyone is successful.
FR: I was lucky. 1999 Udo Walz comissioned a 180 x 220 cm big work. That was my breakthrough. What followed were exhibitions in the Dresdner Bank, in Zurich, Miami, New York etc.

On the side tables in the masterbedroom are table lamps from Philippe Starck

MS: You passionately wear Cowboy Boots. How many pairs do you own?
FR: I probably have around thirty pairs. I wear them preferably unconventional with an evening gown and a denim jacket. With that specific look, I managed to get into the column „sonderbar“ (weird) of the magazine „BUNTE“. BvH

Freddy Reitz is an enthusiastic cowboy boot-wearer …

… but also loves the model “All Stars” of Converse

The chair “Nobody is perfect” is the prototype of a now successful series of small individually painted furniture

View into the kitchen

Freddy Reitz with one of her Birkin-Bags from Hermès. Others are waiting to be painted

In the studio of Freddy Reitz: the artist has painted the stool, bench and Hermès bag

Contact:
www.freddyreitz.com

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