Meet the Telford lady making beautiful ladies bags.

Shropshire Star

Beautiful leather bags made by a Telford lady. We meet up with her to find out more.

Transcript

00:00We're here in Shropshire with a lovely creative, Lillian Jude, that's the business.

00:04It is.

00:05What's your name?

00:06My name's Kerry.

00:07So Kerry, fill us in.

00:08I'm guessing it's a world of bags.

00:09Oh, absolutely, yes.

00:10I had big ideas for lots of different things and I just sort of fell into the whole bag

00:15world.

00:16Yeah.

00:17You've always been a creative person, haven't you?

00:20You've taught art classes and so on.

00:22I have, yes.

00:23I've always been on the make, as it were.

00:27Yeah.

00:28From lace making when I was 12 to wedding cakes to now, my bags.

00:35Yeah.

00:36And there's a nice little story to the name Lillian Jude, where's that come from?

00:39Yeah, so the name Lillie is the name of both of my grandmothers, they were both called

00:44Lillian, and Jude is in honour of my mum, Judith.

00:48So it's a nice little nod to your mum.

00:50Yeah, because they're no longer here with me, but they're there on my shoulder.

00:55It sounds right as well, doesn't it?

00:57So people want to kind of discover Lillian Jude and what it is that you make and the

01:02products and where do they find you?

01:04So I'm on all of the socials at Lillian Jude.

01:08Yeah.

01:09And also I have my own website, which is www.lillianjude.co.uk.

01:15So tell me about your bags then.

01:18So imagine we haven't got any here and I'll meet you in a pub and what are your bags like

01:22then?

01:23Is it sports bags for men?

01:24Tell me about your bags, what are they?

01:27Well, they're all made from reclaimed leather.

01:30It's all unused leather that's been rejected by the industry and furniture manufacturers.

01:39So they're all very eco-friendly.

01:42They're fabulous as well.

01:43They look gorgeous.

01:46If I don't like it, I don't make it, basically.

01:48If it's not perfect, it doesn't leave my studio.

01:53So they're for women who have a fabulous sense of style and who are eco-friendly.

02:01They're very eco-conscious and who appreciate the handmade aspect of it.

02:10Well, that's it, isn't it?

02:11It's nice to have something that's been crafted.

02:13A bit of skill, a bit of heart put into it.

02:16Yeah, absolutely.

02:17I mean, each one is a limited edition of one.

02:20Each one is completely individual from the design itself to the leathers.

02:26Obviously, I'm sort of beholden to what I have in terms of sizes of leather and colours and things.

02:35It's quite a lucky dip in some respects.

02:37And then they each have a rather fabulous lining as well.

02:41Yeah, let's have a look at that.

02:43So that attention to detail carries through.

02:47Yeah, so you're not going to bump into anybody else wearing the same bag.

02:50Yeah, yeah.

02:51It's a cool, these bags, aren't they?

02:53Yeah, absolutely.

02:54Each bag has got a little section, maybe some side pockets, like so.

03:01Also, you will get a slip pocket inside and a zip pocket.

03:09So you can put all your little bits in.

03:13It doubles as a purse as well.

03:15Absolutely, this one in particular is a great one because it's one I designed for the summer.

03:20Inside here, we have a combined purse.

03:24So you can put your cards in and your cash in there.

03:29That means you don't have to carry an extra purse, which in a small bag like this would take up prime real estate.

03:35Yeah.

03:36And it's a new venture for you.

03:39And you've just sold one while we were here, haven't you?

03:42We just had a little ping on your phone.

03:44What's it like being a solo businesswoman in this day and age?

03:49It's so hard.

03:50It's not easy, is it?

03:51No, it really isn't.

03:53I ran a business previously, which was a wedding cake business, which sort of advertised itself.

03:58I didn't really need to do that much advertising because each wedding cake had 120 guests at a wedding who were a captive audience.

04:08It's been a whole new game with the bags.

04:11I've had to start from scratch and do my own PR, my own social media.

04:15It's full on, isn't it?

04:17It's been challenging, very challenging.

04:20But these are a lovely range of colours here, aren't they?

04:23And they really seem to go with this season as well, really.

04:27Where we are, autumnal and earthy colours.

04:30I picked my autumnal edit to show to you today.

04:37There's blue, there's green, it's great.

04:40It really is a case of what I receive in the bag of leather that I get.

04:46I've got some bright fuchsia pink that's waiting for me at home.

04:51I'm going to turn that into something amazing, probably for Valentine's.

04:54And does the colour sometimes inspire the design?

04:56Oh yeah, definitely.

04:59It usually comes as a combo.

05:01I have the patterns.

05:05I buy some of my patterns, some of them I draft myself.

05:09And then I decide which bag I want to make, which pattern I want to use.

05:15And then I look at what leather I've got available.

05:18And then I use whichever lining is most suitable to that.

05:24Well, they look fantastic.

05:26Lily and Jude, guys.

05:28Click away and discover the world of Lily and Jude.

05:32Thank you, Kerry.

05:33Thank you very much, Steve.

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