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BOSSE AND ESTER GIVE YOU HANDMADE BAGS THAT LAST

BOSSE AND ESTER GIVE YOU HANDMADE BAGS THAT LAST

Ulrika Edholm is behind the Bosse & Ester brand and is a bag designer who values the solid, local and elaborate. The colours are strong, the contrasts many and it should feel that the materials, design and function have been chosen and created with care. Now Ulrika is working on the spring collection - where, as usual, everything is handmade from scratch. Meet the Skåne turned West Sweden native, who is the latest addition to eXpression Umeå's incubator team.

It was five years ago, when Ulrika had time to stop and think about other things during her parental leave, that the idea of entrepreneurship took off in earnest. A year earlier, her friends had increasingly started asking for the cases she had sewn and embroidered for their paperback books. One thing led to another. A purse, a toiletry bag, large and small bags.  

- Orders increased and word spread. It was probably after I made a weekend bag that interest really took off and the vision of my own company was born," says Ulrika Edholm, founder of the design company Bosse and Ester, which handcrafts and designs bags and storage.   

Today the company is in place and Bosse & Ester is the latest addition to eXpression Umeå's incubator program. Ulrika has a short start-up time and is busy filing for the next milestone.

- I'm busy in my studio working on my first more elaborate collection. Previously, it has been based on orders and my own inspiration, but now it will be a clearer series where you will be able to follow a common thread regardless of the product," says Ulrika.

When you look, feel and squeeze a bag from Bosse & Ester, you understand what Ulrika means when she emphasises the importance of the material being of the highest quality and that the feeling of genuineness and thoughtfulness should permeate both design and form. The look is often polka dotted, striped and contrasting with strong graphic elements and it is clear that material knowledge is not something left to chance. 

- I'm often inspired by the feel of a material, in different colours and shapes and how they can be combined. I love pattern matching, being in control and doing things carefully. It should show that time and thought went into it.

For Ulrika, quality and sustainability are both a matter of course and a hallmark. It was precisely this that prompted her to start creating her own pieces ten years ago.

- Once you've settled on an area, you start looking for the perfect product that will last, feel sturdy and have all the compartments and details you want. In the end, I had such high standards that I had to make them myself.

Ulrika is in the company herself, but she does what most companies in the cultural and creative industries do - grow through partnerships. In the long term, however, the idea is to be able to employ and develop the company by investing in stronger machinery and a studio outside the home. But even if the company develops, there is no thought of large-scale factory production or compromising on quality.

- I always want to work with short production chains and to buy as much as possible from small producers. A clear vision is also to be able to work with leftovers from textile companies. There is a lot that can be done and developed to create a sustainable textile industry, Ulrika concludes.

But first Ulrika has a spring collection to finish - something many are looking forward to.

Welcome Bosse & Ester. 

Website: https://www.bosseochester.se/

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