Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erin Brisbin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Erin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Creativity was always a part of my life since childhood. I was raised by a single mother who was and still is one of the most talented and creative humans I know. She taught me to sew from a very young age. She made most of my clothes growing up (much to my dismay at the time, now I appreciate it), so a sewing machine set up on the kitchen table was just the norm. I’m fairly certain that she taught me to sew just to keep me out of trouble, as I was alone a lot while she worked. I made everything from duvets and pillows for my hamster to my first (very horrible, very rough) handbag for my mom when I was about eight, to MC Hammer pants for my brother in junior high.

My art teacher in high school was the first person to suggest a career in art. She referenced it to my mom, actually, when I was invited to a state art camp my junior year. I was really into sculpture at the time, and had been absolutely dumping myself into everything I could creatively after the loss of my father. So every medium was fair game to me. Her mentioning a career in art was, to me, ridiculous. Adults in the town I grew up (Bozeman, MT) were either bank tellers, market clerks, police officers, doctors, etc. “Artists” weren’t “career people” in my eyes.

Fast forward years, and I found myself in Sacramento. I had children young, and ended up married and working for one of the biggest corporations in Northern CA doing the most uncreative job I’d ever imagined for myself. I made a great salary, I had great benefits, and I was miserable. My (now ex) husband and I made the decision that I’d leave my job so one of us was more present for the kids. I started volunteering as their art docent in school and just that little venture back into art in its elementary school level lit a spark.

I hadn’t really sewn in years, so I got out my sewing machine and started playing again. This was around 2015. I had a brand new niece, and I wanted to make her some little baby moccasins. My mom had given me a box of leather scraps years before that I just couldn’t bring myself to part with, sample swatches from an upholstery company. Each little rectangle was a perfect size to lay out a teensy pattern on for a pair of moccasins, so I started making them and sending them to Colorado for Hazel, my niece. From there, I kept making new patterns… Mary Jane’s, boots with fringe, etc. And I had a couple of friends start asking for them for baby shower gifts. I eventually burned out my domestic machine sewing leather and invested in a vintage Juki industrial machine. I remember I was sitting there one day and realized that with this machine, I could make literally ANYTHING. So I found a beautiful side of leather and made myself a handbag. It had fringe, a rough front flap, and I lined it with a vintage wool textile that I found at an estate sale a year prior. And from there, I just kept going. I had a small period of my life that I thought I wanted to be an architect, so I pulled those skills and used them to draft patterns for every kind of bag imaginable. My brain exploded.

All of this kind of coincided with a shift in my life and I had to make a choice of going back to work full time (in corporate) or really just dumping myself into this creative venture and rolling with it. I had this moment when I had a guy in my home state ask to commission some bags for his wife and daughters for Christmas where I thought “I think I can do this, I think I can make this work”. And I decided to pour myself full force into it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Erin, and I’m a leathersmith and handbag designer. Oddly enough, I was never a big “handbag” person. My mom always was. I made my first bag because I wanted something for myself that was different from what I saw in stores, and also more durable than I was finding. I tend to be incredibly hard on things, so I wanted something that would look a certain way and also age well and take years of use and abuse. I love it when things age and gain patina, scratches, marks, and look used and loved. I make everything from totes to handbags, clutches, wallets, and I’m even starting to dabble in outerwear. My biggest mission is to make products that will last, and hopefully not look like every other leather tote out there. I daydream my own patterns, draft them, and tend to utilize a lot of handlaced details. Every detail is always thought out for longevity, so there wont be any straps ripping out because they’re not reinforced or seams popping. My bags are solid, well planned, technically executed, and my customers know what to expect. And that is one of the things I am most proud of… my relationship to my customers is incredible and has brought me so much joy. I have a huge return customer base, and relationships form. They know they can reach out and ask me questions and they’ll be treated as humans rather than some number.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I really love addressing this, because I think it’s a bit of a misconception. And this is just my experience, mind you. I don’t have a huge following, all things considered. I have just over 3,000, which we all know in the social media world isn’t many. But my mantra this entire time has been “Quality Over Quantity”. I’d rather have 500 followers who have my back (so to speak) and are religiously supportive over 10,000 people who don’t show up. So when it comes to social media presence, I’ve always just strived to remain completely authentic and NOT treat my page as some business. If I’m on there, it’s intentional. And I think people respond to that.

I’ve also found that there are a lot of artists on social media who have barely any following and are ABSURDLY talented. It almost feels almost unfair to me when I see artists who have a couple hundred followers but I know their work and their quality is unmatched, but because someone else has 15,000 followers they get a ton of exposure. I see it a lot. Social media tends to be a bit of a popularity contest. So my advice for those just starting is this: Know your work, know your customer base/audience, and stay completely authentic to yourself and your work The right people will find you. Also word of mouth is everything, so if you have people who are super supportive on social media and beyond, recognize those people. They’re in your corner for a reason.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think about this one a lot, because resilience is a daily factor for me. It’s not just one story, but really it’s the entire story. I’ll be the first to admit that I chose the hard road for myself, and I’m ok with it! So NONE of this is complaint. I opted to create a career for myself that requires 1,000% of me, and that 1,000% has to be shared with being a single mom doing all of this solo. I don’t have the luxury of being able to pour every dollar back into my business, because it all has to be split to cover basic needs first and foremost, and then back into my business. It’s made me have to be very creative with the way I’ve done things over the years. There was a time I worked out of my bedroom and dining room because I didn’t have space for a shop. I’ve worked with bare bones tools, slowly collecting more and more things to make things easier.

I know a lot of women artists who do their own art full time this same way and as their sole source of income, and it really hits different when we don’t have a spouse or partner handling any part of it, covering any of the bills, helping with the kids, etc. But the flip side of all of this, for me personally, is that *I* did this. Just me, myself, and I. I get to walk into my apartment that I pay for myself and see the light streaming into my windows in the morning when I warm up my shop and get to work. There were plenty of times that I almost threw in the towel, got a “real” job, and I’m sure glad I didn’t. I’ve never in my life worked harder than when working for myself. And I’ve never felt as proud of myself, either.

Contact Info:

• Website: HTTPS://hh-dry-goods.myshopify.com
• Instagram: @hhdrygoods