Escama Studio

SPECIALTIES
- Handbags and jewelry made from pull-tabs

From an early age Andy Krumholz was fascinated by foreign cultures.  Throughout school he did miserably in languages but for some reason had a knack for Mandarin and ended up living in Taiwan for 14 years.  In 2002 Andy decided to take a long awaited trip to Brazil.  It was there he saw the traditional handicraft of crochet-with-tabs and from that moment he knew he wanted to somehow adapt this traditional craft into products for the international consumer.

Escama Studio, founded in 2004, is a collaborative design studio based in California and Brazil.  It adapted the traditional crochet techniques and imbued this tradition with modern design sense and new materials to create the flagship product a sleek, handcrafted line of women's handbags made from recycled aluminum tabs.

The handbags are hand crocheted in Brazil by artisans who work in co-operatives located outside of Brasilia, Brazil.  The groups offer women and men in the community a means to earn a living wage through handicrafts and provide a setting where friends are made and self-esteem is regained.

Since 2004 approximately 70,000 handbags have been produced.  Escama Studio has expanded beyond the handbag and now makes a line of fashion accessories.  The group of artisans working with Escama Studio has grown from 12 to over 100.  In addition to creating employment, Escama Studio gives back a percentage of gross sales to the co-operatives for building.

In June 2010 Andy and Escama Studio were awarded the 2010 Independent Handbag Designer Award for the "Best Green Handbag."