Arty Farty

Oct 10, 2024

It’s Frieze week and the Art vibe is in the air.

As well as celebrating 20 years of working with Tate Gallery shops we have an interview with Ally in “The Art Newspaper“.

Kate sitting at a table that has both her Leila bags on it. One old and worn and one new

It was in 2014, that Ally Capellino talked with Rosie, the buyer of the Tate shops and discussed a range of bags to produce exclusively for Tate. Inspired by some of the artists notebooks that they were already selling, Ally wanted to make bags for artists. They were the colour of Ronnie Barker’s warehouse coat with a dark red trim detail in places. Made from a 16oz canvas the collection comprised an apron, artists roll, satchel, tiny passport sized bag and a pencil case. They hit the spot. Worn by teenagers, seen on tottering oldies and on Joanna Lumley. They even had their own urban myth suggesting that they were based on a bag worn by Constable.

Kate a a front door wearing her old Leila bag

In 2017 we proposed a radical change with some bolder colour and more modern materials. Consciously sustainable fabrics were the new requirement from Tate. The Tate customer like the AC customer wants non gendered bags that are practical and sustainable.

SHOP WASTE YOU WANT

Covid was a dark time for Tate, their income was drastically cut and many staff were laid off. We thought about what to suggest for when it was over and proposed some fabrics and colours, and Tate asked us to consider the work of the Guerrilla Girls as a collaboration. Obviously, that appealed, and Ally scoured the Tate archive for the best option. We agreed on "You’re seeing less than half the Picture”.