Jon and Emily DeFelice solve problems.
From their living-room-turned-studio in Salford, they create lovingly engineered bags that make life that little bit easier because every detail has been personally tested and tweaked. Since 2018, they have been designing new ways to carry your stuff, prompted by Jon’s desire to find the perfect roll-top bag. Hanging on the wall in their living room and studio is Jon’s first handmade bag – a machine-dyed, mottled learning curve.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” says Jon. “I used incorrect webbing. It’s too thin. It just slips. I put the straps on backwards. There’s no padding in it.”
Identifying and understanding these shortcomings is what inspired him to keep making more. “You make one, and you go, okay, this could be better. And you have to make another one. And then you have to make another one.” Jon smiles. “And you have to make another one as you learn and evolve and want to test out ideas.” At this point, Emily weighs in: “It’s like figuring out a puzzle.”
She continues: “That’s what I really like about it. We’re both self-taught in this discipline. So, sewing, bag design, bag making, pattern design. It’s all stuff that we’ve learned because we’ve wanted to solve the problem.”
De Felice & Co. Photo by Rowan Twine.
Careful construction
Hanging at the other end of the chronological row of bags in the couple’s studio is the latest iteration of the Salford Bag, its squared edges and embroidered top flap a far cry from the rows of backpacks you see hanging in most high streets.
“The reason why goods have gotten crappier is because they’re just mass-producing,” explains Emily. “There’s no care or thought. Our bags, we think about them probably too much.”
Emily says that Jon does the designing and she does the majority of the sewing. “He thinks about if something needed repairing and how easy it would be to do that, designing it so we have less fabric waste. So, designing it to be less rounded because the more curves you have, the more waste you have.”
Emily still carefully saves all of their fabric offcuts to use in projects like her patchwork and appliqué tote bags. Meanwhile, from their beginnings with Jon’s roll-top bag, they have expanded their range to include stem bags, film bags, totes, and tool rolls. According to Emily, each new design is inspired by a need they have encountered: “The things we make, either it solves a problem for us or it solves a problem for somebody else. The totes that we make, they sit perfectly in it in a bike basket. Fits a really good size pizza in there.” And each piece is tested by Emily and Jon or by the person who needs it.
The design process
“The tool roll was Nick at Studio Critical:,” Jon explains. “We saw an opportunity to collaborate with him to figure out how to make a good one.” Based on Nick’s feedback, they added details which have made the roll an ideal solution for him and many others, including trading a fabric closing tie for a g-hook and adding a zipped space for pencils or plasters.
Before a new bag even gets a chance to be tested in the real world, it goes through a multi-stage design process. Jon starts digitally to sketch the basic pattern pieces and shape. “You can just change the sizes, add seam allowance, and it’s quite simple. We print out A4 paper, tape it together, and then we staple it together…then we try it on and we get the sizing right. It takes a few iterations of that.”
De Felice & Co. Photo by Rowan Twine.
Each element of the bags has been explored, from the seams to the pockets. After days out in London, slits were added into the side pockets to give them enough volume to fit a water bottle, even when the bag itself is fully packed. Jon’s favourite element is one of these clever solutions – the piece of fabric housing the drawstring toggle at the top of the bag.
“This used to be one long piece. It used to be quite a lot of fabric waste because it’s angled so you have cut-outs. I figured out you could just put it mirrored, so you can have just cut out simple triangles and then cut them out on one piece, so you have less fabric waste, and it gets the same shape that you want. I was quite proud of that.”
“We’re very practical people,” Emily tells me. “I think that definitely comes through in the designs.”
Supporting local craft
It isn’t just the designs that are adjusted to perfection – the materials for each piece have been painstakingly researched. The upshot of their search is a dry, waxed cotton in a subtly muted palette that comes from Lancashire.
“Because there’s a lot of bags that are basically full of plastic and we just don’t want to be contributing more plastic bags,” explains Jon “We’re trying to make it a bit more environmentally friendly.” Their goal is to source all of their materials locally. “We really would like to just source things that are made and manufactured in the UK, but it’s pretty difficult,” says Emily.
Jon reflects: “The biggest hurdle throughout is trying to source stuff. We’ve tried so many fabrics. I think what’s taking us the longest to try to develop products is just sourcing the stuff because a lot of stuff isn’t manufactured in the UK anymore.”
At markets, people are often shocked that their work is hand sewn. “So that’s us thinking surely people must know that people still sew, but no one, no one clearly does.” Jon’s weary smile says as much as his words. “I think there is a huge disconnect between manufacturing in this country and people just consuming things. They don’t realise that someone has to make this, regardless if it’s here or somewhere else. Someone physically makes almost everything.”
Emily and Jon are continuing to make things for their website and for future markets, with plans for more bag types in the future. Find their work online, at The National Festival of Making, and the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair.
Words and images by Rowan Twine
