Handbag designer Lenise Hewling realises lifelong dream with eLSH 

Lenise Hewling is crystal clear on the identity for the luxe accessory brand eLSH, which she introduced to the world last August. "I had a desire to create pieces that felt deeply personal and enduring," explains the handbag designer and West Palm Beach, Florida, resident. "[I wanted to make] objects with soul, story, and presence." 

She is hard at work, deftly cutting full-grain cowhide leather sourced from Italy, when she jumps on a Zoom call to discuss inspiration and brand building. For the philosophical Hewling, stitching eLSH's minimalist bags crafts a narrative that extends beyond being statement makers for the fairer sex. 

"The eLSH woman is no saint. Let's start there," she tells Sunday Lifestyle with a wink.

"There are self-evident truths about her that are more felt than announced. She understands the agency she holds in shaping her life and consciously chooses beauty, depth and authenticity." 

The designer’s cerebral vision of the confident femmes, she imagines slinging her designs over their shoulders, was eight years in the making. It took time to commit to the dream as there was the matter of her nine-to-five. 

The daughter of salesman-turned-construction contractor Del Hewling and his retired nurse wife Kaye, worked in operations at Saks Fifth Avenue, Palm Beach. 

"My tenure at Saks was nothing short of rewarding. I learnt so much about luxury retail, studied how the best fashion houses worked, and made invaluable connections with designers and other retail professions," discloses Hewling, who migrated from Little London, Westmoreland, to the Sunshine State in 1998, with her three siblings, to pursue higher education. 

The Manning’s School past student secured a fine arts bachelor's degree from the American Intercontinental University in 2007.

THE 45 TOTE

Available in five colourways — ivory, charcoal, tobacco brown, magenta and imperial green — the eLSH bag, which its creator dubs the ‘45 tote’, was named by combining her initials with those of her 22-year-old daughter, Eden Mae.

Imagined eight years ago, Hewling reveals that eLSH's foundational design principles were guided by three specific markers. "I was keen on the concept of designing a tote with minimal seams, a bag everybody can carry, and lastly, a bag I could make myself," she explains. 

Cue the pattern-making phase. 

Materials are chosen for more than aesthetic appeal. "The selected hides must signal a promise of durability, stain resistance, and how it will age over time," the handbag ideator notes of the leathers she purchases from Europe, as well as Brazil and Mexico.

"[I use] full grain because it doesn't stretch as much as top grain hides and it's more buttery and supple to the touch," she explained. 

Each bag is individually cut and assembled to be stitched. The bag's edges are treated, and freshly dyed handles, made from leather straps with a matte finish, are subsequently added.

Chicago screws, matte black for eLSH's current collection drop, secure the handles.

The manufacturing stage, according to Hewling, requires precision and patience. "Because the bags are produced with a strong emphasis on craftsmanship rather than mass production, attention is given to every seam, finish and structural detail," she says.

Hewling’s eLSH venture is also shaped by her avid love for luxury fashion houses and the creative forces behind their elevated look and feel.

Former Céline creative director Phoebe Philo, “in my book, is a giant,” the nascent accessory designer tells Sunday Lifestyle, as are Valentino and Balenciaga designer Pierpaolo Piccioli and Stella Jean of the Italian label Stella Jean. 

Dearly departed Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh has seeped into her artistic consciousness recently. "He was a designer I connected with, and was always eager to witness his next expression," she adds. 

With Swell Boutique at the Four Seasons Resort Hotel in Palm Beach and her brand’s Instagram page, @elsh_wi, both serving as current retail destinations for prospective buyers, sights are set on broadening the footprint.

"I would love to see eLSH in a Saks or a Nordstrom, but I'm actually drawn to highly curated boutiques and lifestyle spaces where the customer experience feels more personal," she said. Barbados and her Jamaican homeland are also on the list of retail destinations the brand hopes to occupy as it expands further. 

"The plan," the handbag designer shares, "is to continue to build eLSH thoughtfully and organically while maintaining the distinctiveness that makes it recognisable." 

Hewling has taken heart that her near decade-long dream of handbag designing is now a lived reality. "What I value most about the process is that it allows me to maintain authenticity and originality throughout."

"Being directly involved in the design and production ensures every single piece remains true to my vision of the brand," she concludes, as monogramming logo duties onto just-finished bags demand her attention. 

Incoming orders are on the docket to be finessed and dispatched to the growing community of eLSH devotees, after all. 

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com