Stitched With Style
By Kristen Soles McCrackin | Photos courtesy of Bubo Handmade
Bubo Handmade derives its name from the owl of the goddess Athena. Owner and leather artist Kristen Faircloth says, “In the movie [Clash of the Titans], this little mechanical owl flies through stuff. When I was little, I always loved that owl .... So, when it came time to name my brand, that’s just what I went to.”
Faircloth’s journey to creating the Bubo brand began almost 25 years ago when she moved from Athens to Savannah with her then-boyfriend and eventual husband so that he could pursue studies at Savannah College of Art and Design. While there, she also checked the school’s offerings and enrolled in the accessory design master’s program. “It just seemed like perfect timing because I didn’t have much going on career-wise at the time. And so, I thought I’d go back and try to get my master’s in accessory design — you know, handbags and footwear, specifically,” she explains.
She completed the program about two years later and worked for fashion companies, including Gwen Stefani’s Lamb, BCBG, and Fossil, over the next few years.
While working full-time, Faircloth started Bubo Handmade on Etsy. By 2015, she had dedicated her whole career to it. “I’ve loved crafting my whole life,” Faircloth shares. She describes her creative inspiration as all things vintage. “Vintage clothes and vintage bags look so cool, just different than what you see nowadays. So, I love going to vintage or thrift shops and looking at old bags. You can learn a lot about construction from looking at old bags.”
She also looks to nature for ideas. She describes her final collection she did for her master’s degree to emphasize her point. “I interned in California, and we drove back through the desert. [My collection] was based off all the colors of the desert and the textures of the mesas and the buttes.”
Faircloth says she keeps her leather goods simple, functional and beautiful. She also explains that for people who may be worried about sustainability, she makes her goods to last for generations versus faux leather, which uses plastic and doesn’t biodegrade. She notes that in making handbags, belts, wallets and keychains, she uses every scrap of leather she can, eliminating waste. “I try to keep my sourcing within the United States to make it [less expensive], and I do work with tanneries that work with ranches to [make sure the cowhide is] a byproduct of the meat industry.” This guarantees the cattle industry uses both the meat and hide to reduce animal waste.
Most bags range from $98 for the smallest crossbody to a backpack that’s $250. One of the latest items in her collection is the “bunny bag.” She calls it that because it was an Easter creation. Faircloth describes it, saying, “It’s a woven little tote that I made, and it was just something different for me because I had to figure out how to weave leather. It’s several pieces of wider strips of leather, and it’s fun to make.”
However, her favorite piece is the “Bananagram bag.” Laughing, she says, “It’s a silly bag, but I think it’s kind of indicative of my personality because it’s just a simple little crossbody yellow bag with a bunch of bananas smiling and being goofy that I drew [etched] on it. Faircloth says she makes at least one for craft shows because people love it so much when they see it in person.
Readers can purchase Bubo Handmade leather goods at bubohandmade.com, Community on North Jackson Street and Mother Lode on Baxter Street. She also maintains her Etsy shop because “it’s hard to drive people to bubohandmade.com if they’ve never heard of you!”