We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stone Hubbard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stone, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?
In my high school costume construction class, I learned a surface design technique from Elizabeth Knodle, a revered Texas artist and educator, with remnants of fabrics from Todd Oldham’s trunk shows. She then taught us how to take the technique and turn it into a one-piece foldover bag. My love of designing and constructing bags was born. I went on to pursue a career in Theatrical costumes but the love of the surface design technique and making bags stayed. I would take the fabric remnants from shows I worked on and would make the costume designer and or costume crew bags. Then my friends started asking for bags for gifts. Then the buzz started. Soon people were contacting me saying they had old fur stoles, letterman jackets, wedding dresses, etc from family members that had passed on and they would like those turned into bags. I started to focus more on bags and launched Raw Goddess in 2003. I was invited to participate in a show at the Hedi Cho Gallery in NYC in the project room as wearable art in 2004.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I make one-of-a-kind and limited-run bags and leather goods as well as prototypes and samples for other companies in my studio at the former Neumanns Leather Tannery in Hoboken.
I get inspiration from the materials themselves, art, walking around the city, listening to music people, reading, on the train you name it. When working with leather on my creations, I take a holistic approach and let the animal skin tell me what it would like to be in its next form. It is my way of honoring the life of the animal.
I think what makes me stand out from the masses is my ability to combine elements that are not traditionally paired together such as athletic material combined with traditional suiting fabrics or mixing hardware finish colors.
I have worked hard in the past 20 years learning the craft and applying it to my designs while also incorporating what I learned during my costume career. I also teach the next generation at Parsons School of Design at The New School in the BFA program, Fashion Product Pathway, and in the Parsons Academy pre-college program.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Seeing the smile on a client’s face when they see their custom order.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think Trusting the process is something that noncreatives struggle with. It’s not as tangible as clicking away on your computer at a corporate finance job so you have to trust that what came to you in design form will work. Someone will love it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stonehubbard.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stonehubbard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StoneHubbardBags/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stone-hubbard-664b997
- Other: https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty/stone-hubbard/
Image Credits
Toh Ling