Peterselie, a brand who designs bag, drawing in Bruxelles and crossing the Italy to research (material) and to produce (the idea).
Loving Italy, Bjorn Ghyselen, Founder & Creative Director of Peterselie, has been building a strong relationship with Italian artisans who manipulate very well the leather and can make perfect the product trough details and finishing touches. The main feature of the leather, he chooses constantly for his collections, is to be deadstock. That means: unique and exclusive purses (because they depends on the disposability of the leather).
Fashion has always been related to gender identity: some products for men, others for women. What does wearing a bag mean for you?
Wearing a bag to me means being comfortable, effortless and timeless. I’m not attracted to statement bags that scream attention. I’m always attracted to things that seem simple at first glance but when you take a closer look or double check you discover a whole new story. That is exactly the sort of bag we make at Peterselie. A very simple design at first glance but when you look closer you realize that the pattern really studied masculine a feminine features of design and combines both. Creating a very timeless bag.
How is structured your creative process?
My creative process takes a long time. I get inspiration from everything around me. It can be vintage bags, clothing, furniture, art or just culture in general. I can’t pinpoint the exact features that resemble these sources of inspiration, but I mix it all in my head and then I start drawing basically. I come back to the drawing every few weeks and really build the design over a few months until I feel like it’s perfect. The colour palette on the other hand is very intuitive and goes super fast, I have a colour direction in mind but we only work with deadstock leather that we source in Veneto, Italy. So I really depend on what I can find in the stocks. Often I bump into a colour that I didn’t expect but fits perfectly into the colour palette I had in mind so I just go for it. So the whole process of deciding the colour palette is really done in the 24h while sourcing. Which is crazy exhausting but also really cool in a way because it gives you an opportunity to experiment and trust your gut. The collections are always limited edition so you can really test out different things every drop.
3) Describe Peterselie with 3 words. Tell us more about one of them.
Effortless. Timeless. Real.
Real: In contradiction with many other brands, Peterselie doesn’t start from a dream utopia. Peterselie starts from reality and wants to make the world we currently live in a better place. We make reality better by creating bags with deadstock leather that gets thrown away by other big luxury brands. Our campaigns always feel very raw and real. For example our latest campaign featured crying men and women holding their Peterselie purse. The models, especially men, showing vulnerable emotions isn’t something we see very often, but in reality we all cry when we are sad or even happy. So yeah, everything we create with Peterselie from bag to campaign really comes from the idea of how we can make reality better.
Why are you so fascinated with Italian leather?
I’ve always loved Italy even before I was into fashion. So when it came to producing I felt naturally drawn to Italy. The more I learned about the leather industry in Italy the more I was convinced it was the perfect place for Peterselie to source and produce its collections. There is this certain know-how about leather that is passed on from generation to generation; it’s almost a natural instinct that Italian ateliers have. They know how to work with leather like no other. Working with deadstock also means that you work with different types of leather so you constantly have to adapt your way of working to the leather. If you don’t have that knowledge you just can’t do it.
Could deadstock materials represent a new concept of luxury because of their limited availability?
For sure, deadstock materials are often as good as the original material. It’s often an order cancellation or over production that creates deadstock, so the quality is as good. Adding the uniqueness of limited collections makes it very exclusive. If you buy a Peterselie bag you just don’t buy any bag. But you buy a bag with a story behind it and you buy from a certain drop, whatever colour/leather bag you bought isn’t coming back in stock and you know only just a few people will have the exact same one. Who doesn’t want that?!
Click here to find out more about Peterselie!
Creative Director Bjorn Ghyselen
Photographer Mathieu Teissier
Packshots Carolle Servayge
Stylist Ricky Van Gils
Make-up Artist Sarah Roman
Light Léo Maelk
Models Sami, Laura, Bjorn & Kaito
