#yycLCL September 2018
Hands are the second thing I look at on a person after their face. Hands can tell you a lot about someone. Life shows itself through hands—work, worry, age, vanity, strength, weakness… hands can’t help but show these things. My hands are my tools, along with my brain and eyes and, of course, the sewing machines that bind together the hundreds of discarded textiles I have made into, wait for it… handbags.
For me, being creative means using what you have and making something new and original from what was nothing but a pile of stuff just a minute ago. It’s looking at hundreds of pieces of fabric and old leather jackets and dreaming it into a handbag. It’s opening the fridge and pantry and turning ingredients into a delicious meal. It’s renovating a room using thrifted furniture and salvaged baseboards and hand-me-down vintage fabric.
When you use your hands to turn the discarded and forgotten into new and beautiful, you are affirming a creative life that values new ideas with limited resources, and rejecting the idea that life is disposable
Heidi Klaassen is the owner/designer of Hekkal & Hyde—a company specializing in one-of-a-kind, eco-friendly artisan bags, handmade right here in Calgary. Find Hekkal & Hyde on the web at hekkalandhyde.com and follow them on Instagram and on Facebook at @hekkalandhyde.
Show us how you live a creative life by tagging your Instagram snapshots with #yycLCL, and we may feature your image next month.