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