We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Max Brownawell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Max, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I paint on handbags, mainly Hermes Birkins and Kellys. Before I started painting full time I was a Specialist at an auction house specializing in collectible handbags, mainly Hermes Birkins and Kellys. I started off painting a bag of my own, but when people saw me carrying it, they loved it and would ask if I could paint theirs. So after about a year of painting on the side I left that job to paint full time. It was a balance of commissioned work painting on other people’s bags and buying bags to paint however I’d like, then selling them through a dealer. That went well for about 5 years, but I realized I had to do 10 commissions to make as much money as I could painting and reselling one bag I had bought myself. So I recently got a full-time job again as a Handbag Specialist at a bigger more prestigious auction house, while I continue to paint the bags I can buy myself, which I sell through a dealer. I get both the structure and benefits of a full-time job along with the artistic freedom of painting exclusively for myself, while still making about half the profits I could if I was painting full-time. I’m very lucky that I have a dealer who can sell almost anything I paint, and a team of coworkers at my job that I really like and enjoy working with, in a field that I love and find genuinely fascinating. The two practices enforce and enhance one another.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I have been painting since I was a little kid, but I started painting on bags around 2017. I had been working as a handbag Specialist at an auction house and when I painted a bag of my own with a design inspired by Tibetan Tiger rugs, people loved it and asked if I would paint theirs, too. So a little business was born. About a year after that I left my job to paint full-time, which I did for about 5 years under the business name Max Paints Bags LLC. About half of my work was commission and half was on bags I’d buy myself and paint however I’d please. I wouldn’t take just any commissions, though, mainly if people wanted a version of something I’d done for myself, or if they came to me with a vision that I really felt strongly about. I recently started working as a Handbag Specialist at Sotheby’s and no longer do commissioned work, which allows me to focus entirely on creating new and exciting design on the bags I can get myself. Most of my bags are sold through a dealer, and some have ended up in celebrity collections like Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, though I usually don’t know about it until they post with a bag I’ve painted or it shows up on TV.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Many people think it’s a little crazy to paint on Hermes Birkin or Kelly bags. They’re very expensive and hard to get. My clientele is extremely niche, its typically women and men who already have a dozen if not a hundred Birkins and Kellys in their collection and they want something that will excite them and be totally unique. Many of my commissions would come from people who saw a friend of theirs with a bag I’d painted. There’s never going to be a huge number of people buying my painted bags, but the people who do buy them are passionate collectors who know what they want.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me it’s the thrill of creation. taking materials and bringing them together according to your vision to create something new and beautiful, maybe even moving.
Contact Info:
- Website: Maxpaintsbags.com
- Instagram: @ Maxpaintsbags
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-brownawell-231bb86a/
Image Credits
Max Brownawell