Bags carry designer in a new direction

Meichi Peng is set to launch a South End showroom for her hand-stitched bags, interior design services, and unique home accents. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)

Meichi Peng learned to sew in Taiwan and became her family's resident tailor, re-sewing her grandfather's fraying shirt until it was like new again, and again. Now 34, the Waltham resident is still sewing - hand-stitching creamy calfskin and cowhide handbags for her discerning (and well-heeled) customers. The bags, which take 12 to 50 hours each to complete, cost $400-$2,500. For the past couple of years, the hard-working Peng (she's also an interior designer and was an associate principal at ADD Inc. for eight years) has stayed under the radar, building her collection and selling only by word of mouth, through her website, and at LuxCouture in Newton. But lately she's begun talking to retail buyers. And come spring, she plans to debut a South End showroom, simply called Peng, where she'll have her handbags, interior design services, and one-of-a-kind home accents from around the globe all under one roof.

Q. Tell me about your first handbag.

A. When I went back [to Taiwan] one summer, my sister and I went looking for handbags, for something I could use. I also wanted to design something for . . . tools. I made a huge T-square bag. We always have to bring the tools when we go to studio - the big T-square, the drawings, all that, and it's very hard to carry around. I also made a couple handbags to carry on the side. It's very different. A lot of people have stopped me on the street and say, "Where did you get that?" It's not even well put together but the concept is there.

Q. Which handbag brands do you think stand out?

A. I think there are two ways you could look at this, in terms of how and where [bags] are made - except put Hermès in a different category. But I think when you look at the market, it's the design that's driving the handbag today because the construction is all made overseas in China. People who are looking at the branding are tied to the name. Bottega Veneta is my favorite right now.

Q. Do any of your bags touch the sewing machine at all?

A. No, not in our collection. I like the traditional technique of putting pieces together, which is actually lost today. No one actually makes a handbag like that anymore. One of the only companies still doing hand-sewn handbags is Hermès, but they don't do it for all their lines, just a few pieces like the Birkin bag.

Q. Given that your technique takes time, are you prepared for the success and then the demand?

A. We have talked about that. I think because the production line is very small we'd be happy to add a valued member to our studio. Training a person, an artist, literally takes about three to six months every day before they can actually go into the production line because the construction is so complicated. It's all about craftsmanship. A bag can only look good if the person who is making it makes it look right. So if the person who is doing the stitching is off then the look of the bag is not there. It happens, sometimes when I examine the pieces I say this is not quite right and I tell the customer let me remake it for you again.

Q. If you get picked up by, say, Barneys, people all over the world will want these bags. How will you keep up?

A. I think people could wait for it. It's like the Birkin bag. Right now [our] lead-time is four to six weeks. People wait years to get the Birkin. It makes them more special when you can't just go and buy it. People love this bag, there are so many different color combinations. The tricky part is the length of the handle, it's designed to go on the shoulder, but for some women, we design it to also go on the wrist.

Q. How many people do you have on staff?

A. Five for interior design. Three overseas. I was going to subcontract out [the sewing] and have somebody else do it because then you can really keep up the production line and the demand. I could not find anybody to do it. I just could not. I spent months searching. I investigated for so long, but everything is mass-produced in this day. Even all the bags made in Italy are all made in China, they just do the final assembling touch there. That was the reason I wanted to do my own production studio, I wanted to do the quality control and keep it very exclusive so we can keep up the demand. If I take the order, I like to be honest with the customer and say, 'I'm sorry, the waiting time right now is about two months. Are you willing to wait?' If they're OK with it, then we take the order. So it's never like, "Oh my God, we took all these orders and we cannot produce!" I like to put that out front to the customer. Everything is custom tailored to fit the individual.

Q. How many interior design projects are you working on now?

A. It's hard to tell, maybe eight or 10? . . . My business is so new, less than two years old, but with my career working at ADD Inc., I have a lot of different relationships with the developers so most of the time our jobs are through referrals. I like it like that because expectations are aligned. The client knows what to expect and at the same time you can deliver to the level they want it. To me, that's a win-win combo.

Q. Where do you do your shopping?

A. Every time when I go back to Taiwan, if I have time, I really shop there. The design is really, really good at a fraction of the cost. I love to buy pieces that are really unique. . . . It's not so much about the name that is important to me, it's more about the design of the pieces and how they fit into your personality. I could have spectacular clothes, but if it doesn't fit me then it doesn't make any sense.