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- [00:00]
Melissa Morris
Travel is the most important education. That was, I think the way I was brought up is that every summer we went somewhere different and it was nothing fancy. It was just about getting to see different ways that people speak and look and dress. And I think it's just so important to especially in today's world where it's so easy to be in an echo chamber where you, you get to see other things and not be scared of it.
- [00:29]
Host
What's going on, everybody? And welcome to Collector's G Gene Radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the Collector's Gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's Guest on Collector's Gene Radio. Today I have the immense pleasure of sitting down with Melissa Morris, founder and creative director of Metier, a brand that has elevated the art of travel through exquisitely crafted bags and accessories, each designed with a floral philosophy rooted in longevity, functionality and timeless elegance. Since launching Metier in 2017, Melissa has built a collection of essentials that don't just serve a purpose, they tell a story. Each piece is meticulously conceived to stand the test of time, crafted in collaboration with generational artisans in Italy, and tested for decades of wear. But beyond the bags themselves, Melissa is a collector in her own right of inspiration, materials, and experiences. Her background in sculpture informs her approach to design, her travels shaped the color palettes of her collections, and her deep admiration for vintage Porsche is woven into her aesthetic sensibilities. Metier is not about trends or seasonal drops. It's really about refinement, precision, and the art of building upon something meaningful rather than constantly replacing it. In many ways, Melissa approaches design the way a collector approaches their most prized possessions. With intention, ingenuity, and an unwavering respect for materials and craftsmanship that engage all the senses. We delve into the importance of designing pieces for an exacting collection, how she persisted to perfect the snap of a closure to mirror, the sound of a car door shutting, and how travel is one of the only things that truly makes you rich. So with great honor, this is Melissa Morris, founder of Metier for Collector's Gene Radio.
- [02:23]
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- [02:54]
Host
Melissa Morris, Founder of Metier thank you so much for joining me on Collector's Dream Radio today.
- [02:59]
Melissa Morris
Thank you so much for having me.
- [03:01]
Host
It's my absolute pleasure. And as someone who creates some of the most luxurious travel bags and accessories, I think let's start off by telling everyone where you're calling in from today and maybe the last place that you traveled that left you extremely inspired to start a new collection.
- [03:18]
Melissa Morris
So I'm currently in London, which is where my studio is. It's where my team and I are headquartered. I moved to Europe from New York when I knew I was ready to start Metier and knew I wanted to produce everything in Italy and therefore needed to be really close and able to get back and forth to Italy regularly. So I thought London would be a great place to set up shop. So moved over to the side of the pond and have sort of been running ever since.
- [03:52]
Host
As far as opening up shop in London versus somewhere like New York, I mean, they're both big beasts in in their own way. Did you find that maybe opening up a store in in London would have been a little bit easier than opening up in New York? Or do they kind of share the same sentiment in that way?
- [04:07]
Melissa Morris
I mean, I didn't really think about it from that perspective. Actually. We signed the lease for the store on the day of the Brexit vote.
- [04:16]
Host
Wow.
- [04:17]
Melissa Morris
And actually I it was for me, really paramount to launch Metier with a store, which also was especially then we launched in 2017. It was really when E Commerce was especially booming and people just thought that that sounded crazy, let alone the fact of moving to a new country where I didn't have a friend, let alone anything else, and signing a lease on the day of the Brexit vote. It just all seemed really crazy. But I guess it just felt like such an important part of what I was doing or what we wanted to do with Metier authentically. And that was having a store and having an experience and a place where you could really understand and touch and feel and just immerse yourself in the brand. It was just paramount to me and it's how I believe. I guess a lot of what I believe in personally and professionally is through experiences and really seeing things for yourself and experiencing it and having that real authentic feeling for something to really understand and appreciate it.
- [05:24]
Host
Yeah, certainly. And I think, you know, one of the best things about Europe is your access to travel and your access to kind of go anywhere you want, especially being out of London. I mean, flights are going in and out of Heathrow any which way, all day, 24, seven. And that probably didn't make it too, too difficult either.
- [05:43]
Melissa Morris
No, no, definitely not. I mean, I was for the first three years, I actually, before I moved to London, I was, I actually had a last minute change of heart and decided I wanted to move to Berlin. And so was living in Berlin for three years and moved to London only when we were ready to launch the brand. I sort of just felt like, oh, I, I have my whole life to live in London, even though I had never lived here. But I figured this is where I was going to start the business from. And while I develop and design everything, I should live somewhere that I would never otherwise have the chance to live. And picked Berlin. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco in a lot of ways, which was my favorite place I've ever lived. So I was pretty much back and forth between Berlin and Italy every week for the best part of three years. So, yeah, the travel and making it really easy to get around is really important.
- [06:32]
Host
Something I find interesting is that it seems that you've kind of always been design focused. I mean, you worked for some really big names in the fashion industry. But I think the listeners would love to know, did you work in the fashion industry because you were a collector? I mean, were you collecting fashion and accessories growing up or was it just an industry that you wanted to join? And then you eventually said, hey, I want to have my own label.
- [06:54]
Melissa Morris
Yes and no. I guess I've always loved fashion and design and how expressing yourself through what you wear and what you surround yourself with. I think I always grew up with that. My grandmother was and is still the most impeccably dressed person I've ever known. Just in terms of her complete, authentic sense of style and ability to mix high and low and pieces she'd pick up on travel. And she was just everything to me in almost every way. So I guess that infiltrated me from a really young age. But I think I always loved collecting things. You know, when I was thinking about it every time, you know, that my family would take us somewhere new, which was every summer we would go somewhere new, a place we'd never been before, to be immersed in a different way of speaking things, taste, sound, sights, all of that. And I would always pick something from travel and put it in my room. And I had a shelf of all of my different places than things that I've ever been or I collected even all of those. Do you remember that? Like the old school Absolute ads and milk ads.
- [08:02]
Host
Yes, they're the best.
- [08:04]
Melissa Morris
Right? And I covered my walls with them and with music posters and all of these other things. And I would feel so excited to find that coveted super rare absolute ad that was only in that one issue of National Geographic. You know, whatever it was, it was just, I think I loved making a space my own. And it's funny, my mom came over to visit me last month and I've recently moved into a new house and so it was the first time she saw the house and she said, it's unbelievable. Since you've been little, whether it was in sleepaway camp or going to university and in your dorm room, I could always walk into any space and know which one was yours. And if no one was to tell me, because I think I've always just loved to collect things and make spaces and experiences my own. Which I guess probably goes back to why the store for metier was so important to me.
- [08:58]
Host
Yeah, certainly. And I, I love that travel was something that was instilled in you from an early age because it's one of those things you either did it when you grew up or you didn't. And you either have to get that travel bug yourself or it kind of never happens for people. It's not really, there's no in between and. But the thing that I find interesting is that when you do travel as a, as a young kid and your parents show you these things around the world, you kind of don't stop. You kind of always decide to travel and travel such an important part of metier and everything that you do because you create these, what you call exacting collections and they solve these modern day grievances and it's supposed to streamline life in the most exquisite ways that sometimes only manufacturers in Italy know how to do. And I would love to know what it takes for you to curate everything that's needed to go into these collections. Because it's not just travel, it's the ideas that you get from travel and it's all those things that you see.
- [09:57]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, I mean, a bag for us is not just a bag. You know, when you're out in the world and you're going new places or doing a million things at once, your bag is Sort of your port in the storm. And it's keeping you organized and it's keeping you, you know, not worrying that you've lost anything. And it sort of makes you feel safe in a way. It has all of your things that you need, and it allows you to move more freely through your day and keep you present and enjoying the moment. And also, you know, the luxury hand for me is. Is done in such a, you know, important because it brings in the execution, is done in such a perfected, beautiful way that inspires you and makes you feel am all the way through. And, you know, the bag that you're carrying with you is designed to. Or the mette bags are designed to patina and develop a character in the material as you use them. So in the same way that you get your own experiences and you become enriched as a person and change and evolve from the experiences, the bag reflects that too. They're meant to change and get more beautiful with age in the same way, you know, I think people are. And it was really, you know, that, I think, is why I feel quite. I find bags to be actually quite a romantic object because they are your companion. And I like the idea that I'm creating, designing these perfect companions or these cherished belongings for people to take with them as they're going through life and experiences. And it's there to sort of make them have a better experience. And it also reflects where it's been when you get home. And part of that for me was you don't change your bag every five seconds. There's this is my bag for this purpose, and this is my bag for that purpose. And every bag in the collection is designed to do something different. And we don't want you to replace your bag. Every bag has been tested, crafted and tested to stand a test of 20 years of use. So there's this facility in Italy that simulates wind, rain, humidity, stones shaking, the whole thing, because we don't want you to have to replace it. And so when I start to design each bag, I only create new shapes when I think there's a need I've not yet addressed. And I start by thinking about everything that you need to do. So will you have to go to passport control and be able to access your passport without having to unzip your bag easily? And will you also, could you get to the hotel and the room not be ready? And then you need a smaller bag to take while the bigger bag goes away without worrying where your essentials are? And I think a lot about how you Move through your day and how you carry and that. I start by creating sort of a list of requirements in a way, of what you're doing and what you need to carry. And then I design the shape around that and the construction from there. So it very much is a design approach where function leads form.
- [12:59]
Host
Yeah, certainly. And I love that you don't follow the traditional fashion calendar. Right. You design and you create what you feel would seamlessly fit into the existing family of products, or whether it's a new collection that enters right with the existing families. And it really reminds me of the way that people collect just about anything. It's this idea of building upon something rather than, like you said, continuously having to replace it. Was that important for you from day one?
- [13:27]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, hugely. I mean, these are investment pieces. There's no two ways to. No doubt about it. And if you're investing in something, you should know that it's what the brand can do in the best way. And that three months later, six months later, however long, you're not going to be told, actually, here's something better. And that, for me, felt like a real responsibility to our clients. And also, once you fall in love with a piece and you kind of come in, you know, a client will come into the shop and say they need a bag for their everyday work, which means they need to carry a laptop, and they're also commuting from the countryside, and so they need to do X, Y and Z. And so you figure out your perfect product and then there's all of these modular components that you can sort of layer on and collect with it to enhance the bag to suit your needs specifically. So in that way, it's very custom. And the experience in the store, you know, clients will spend about three hours in the store, their first time going through, figuring out the perfect material, perfect combination of different modular pieces, you know, all of it. And then, you know, you might come in another time and say, actually, now I have a need for a true travel bag. And knowing that your modular elements also go work with that one, you don't need to start over. And you're sort of. You continue to collect and build your metiers based off of your needs and your journey. And that responsibility is, I find the most interesting and rewarding as a sort of business owner and also as a designer.
- [15:07]
Host
Well, it's clear that for you, each detail is so important. You really don't skip over anything to compensate for something else. It all has to be really cohesive and flow properly. And I'm sure you Hit crossroads where that doesn't happen, and you have to kind of go back to the drawing board. And I love that you work with these, you know, generational families in Italy and that you, like you said, test each bag for 20 years for weather damage so that it can. It's made to last. And obviously, we're in a world of fast fashion these days, and that's nearly unheard of that people do this. And I would love it if you could talk about your philosophy of this longevity and conscious consumption and why spending X amount more for a metier bag to have it for forever to pass down is so important.
- [15:54]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, I mean, I think there's different elements of it. I think first, it reflects how I think people actually shop or how I think it makes sense to build things in your life. And having less but better is just something I believe in in general, you know, And I think the way that I would wear my grandmother's jewelry and how it feels to wear it knowing that these are pieces that she wore and. And had, feels totally different. And I love the idea of creating something that can be had for so long that you can remember, oh, I remember when I first wore that or where I was when I. Oh, I remember I took that bag to Egypt and, you know, and then being able to pass down from generations. We're still too young, I guess, to really be stories that I know about yet. But I love the idea of it and I think this obsession with detail and craftsmanship and doing things right. You know, I've been working on a collection that we just unveiled in Paris last week to some press and to our wholesale partners. And I'd been working on it for 14 months, which is a really long time to develop something, but we just couldn't get it 100% perfectly of what I was looking to do and, you know, when we launched the first metier collection, because this is really ostensibly the second true one. I've added different pieces over the years, but it's more or less all built on the same bone, so to speak. And I spent three years when I was living in Berlin and going back and forth between Berlin and Italy. We spent three. Three years completely re engineering how to craft a bag by studying its pressure points and trying to figure out how to have something super functional and lots of modularity and compartments and pockets, but that it looks completely elegant and effortless from the outside. So it's, you know, really looks like a beautiful, sleek luxury design, but it's also really lightweight and slouchy and everything had to sort of blend this mix of functionality and craftsmanship and just this real relaxed elegance, this style that I love. And that was already really, really difficult. It took us three years to figure out how exactly to do it. And then they stand the test of time and to balance all of that. And then I've pushed just a step further. I wanted to create a whole bag of a whole range of virtually seamless products that have literally even less place to hide less details. No hardware, completely reduced even further, but still maintaining all of the detail on the inside. It took us 14 months. And in fact, we had to not only completely rethink how we were constructing, but we also had to completely develop a new range of materials that worked for this concept. So it's sort of we're continuing to challenge ourselves to blend form and function in such an elegant way and, you know, continuing to force ourselves to reduce further and further and further, which has been really exciting. And yeah, I'm so excited about the pieces.
- [19:08]
Host
How easy is it to work with your, you know, partners in Italy that are making these things? Is it more of a passive relationship where you're kind of telling them, hey, here's the design, this is what we want, here's the amount we want to make, and here's the deposit? Or are you collaborating with them actively saying, hey, we, we need to figure out this new material or we need to figure out a new way to make this work? Because what we currently are doing isn't working for what this is. How does that usually work for you guys?
- [19:37]
Melissa Morris
It's a total collaboration. So I have a team, a team that's in Italy, that's. That's their metier. And in fact, one of the first person that I was thank God, able to convince to work with me was. He's still with us today. We're on our 10 year anniversary and his name is Luca Flavi and he oversees all of our product development and production. And actually, I always refer to him as sort of the. I'm one half of the designer, he's the other half. So I come all of the sort of the shape ideas and what I want to achieve in how it looks and how it functions, you know, the overall sensibility of it, all of that. And then I show him the sketches and I usually make a life size model out of paper, which just goes back to something I learned when I was studying sculpture. And so I sit with him and go through it all and then we analyze it together and then he comes up with lots of ideas and you know, once we've sort of settled on, okay, the best ways to bridge all of that, we then prototype it and then it comes back to us and we relook at it again. And he sees things that he thinks from his perspective he could make better, whether it's. He sees there's a potential weak point. You know, there could be a potential fault if too much weight's in it. Or there's a way to add a crafting detail to make it even more elegant. Or I'm using it like I just developed a closure and it worked perfectly. But then when I wear test, because I wear test all of them, I wear test of the bag. And I found that actually when you have things inside it, somehow the clasp kept coming undone more easily. But I didn't want to add something that felt finicky to open or close. It just needed to stay closed more easily. So we added this, like, ridged plate behind it. It was something that I had seen in a vintage Porsche dashboard. And it just created a little bit of tension, which was so great. And so, okay, cool, we had that. Now it's working. Then I further wear tested it and I was carrying my laptop with it, and I realized the way that it's positioned, my laptop was sort of rubbing up against the backside and I didn't like that. So we've now added a piece of like padded alcantara, which is a microfiber that was used in vintage luxury cars, so that it could, if it rubs against a laptop, it can't scratch it or damage it. So it's a constant collaboration. And in fact, collaborating is my favorite part of what, of what I do. I love working with people, and I'm really lucky to get to work with different types of people that I find so inspiring, whether it's someone like Luca and the artisans that we work with in Italy, or, you know, I just came back from Paris and had a photo shoot, and I'm so lucky to get to work with this art director and stylist who I am beyond inspired by. And I always walk away from that feeling like my eyes are completely opened. Or even the other brands that I get to collaborate with and the other creators and get to see their lens and how they look at things in their process and try to blend the two brands together. It's. I think collaborating is, is. It's actually why I get up in the morning.
- [22:51]
Host
I love it. I mean, I love that you take inspiration from vintage cars, especially Porsche, which is brand near and dear to my heart. And A lot of the listeners here too, I think it takes such ingenuity to do stuff like that. And you mentioned, you know, you're trained in sculpture, which is something that everyone may not know about you, and that obviously influences the way that you approach design and by extension, the way that you create your collections at Metier. But I want to kind of talk to you about, you know, you mentioned you make this paper miniature of what the bag is. And it kind of reminds me of the way, like, people archive for their brands and everyone archives differently. And keeping an archive is such an overlooked aspect of collecting. It's, to me, arguably one of the most important things that any brand can do. Right. Because it tells your history, it's your legacy. And for you and Metier, I love that you make these paper miniatures and it's almost like a piece of origami. Do you think of these prototypes as your own personal archive or collection?
- [23:54]
Melissa Morris
I wish. So I make them and they're actually life size, so I make them to scale because that's how I can test that the laptop fits perfectly or whatever else. It's actually just drawing something. By the time you've actually built it, you see completely different things than you would have otherwise. So if you think about having a pocket that's flat and the panel is flat on top of the other, and so you think, okay, well, the laptop is perfect because it can. It's exactly that precise width. But actually you need to allow for more space on either side depending because of the. The depth will then take some of that width up. And there's just a lot I find really helpful to see it when I make it. I also just can see the shape. And a lot of times, you know, just by nature of. Of designing very much with function in mind, sometimes I find the shapes at first end up too boxy. And so I'll start to angle them and cut them and trim them and add curves to them. And then all of a sudden you realize you've over curved it and you no longer can. You could fit the laptop at the bottom and not the top. And it's a bit of a process. And I, I love that part because it allows me to really envision it in a. In a three dimensional way that a sketch can't do. But it's actually really sad. I send them and then we bring them to Italy and talk loopholes with Luca about them, and then we take them apart to make the paper pattern. So actually they're on. So it's, I guess the, the end Result, the true archive of it is the finished product. And of course, I have photos of them, but it is. It's funny, when you said that, I thought, oh, my God, that is so sad.
- [25:34]
Host
But, yeah, gut wrenching.
- [25:36]
Melissa Morris
Yeah. But I mean, yeah. Anyway, they. They were there and now they're not unfortunate.
- [25:45]
Host
I like to go back to this travel thing because I think it's one of the only things in the world that makes anyone rich, in my opinion. And your collections are so deeply inspired by travel, whether it's the color palettes or things that you collect from your trips, whether it's from Gotland to Marrakech, whatever it may be. And sometimes it's easy to see the inspiration of a collection via a campaign. Right. But oftentimes it's missed. And I think it would be great if you could share with the listener something that you were really inspired by in terms of your travels that eventually ended up in a collection. Maybe it's something that people can actually go to the website after this episode and physically see and relate to a bag and something. Maybe it's a colorway from a specific place. Anything come to mind?
- [26:35]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, well, first, I completely agree that travel is the most important education. That was. I think the way I was brought up is that every summer we went somewhere different, and it was nothing fancy. It was just about getting to see different ways that people speak and look and dress. And I think it's just so important to. Especially in today's world, where it's so easy to be in an echo chamber, where you get to see other things and not be scared of it. So at first, I couldn't agree more in just the importance of travel, but then also in a much lighter context, it serves for such inspiration. So I went to Morocco several years ago, and I was really inspired by all of this basket weaving I saw. I was in a small town called Orzazate, and I was sort of walking around the local markets and saw all of this basket weaving and just was so inspired by it and wanted to come back and do something with it, but in a really authentic way that, I don't know, I felt hadn't been done. You know, the basket is, of course, it's a bag. It's a bag shape, it's a bag texture That's. That is, of course, very inspiring to many designers. And I wanted to think about how I could bring that in in a way that felt really new. So I had a strip of leather in front of me and started sort of Braiding inside the leather, and then wrapped it around a piece of rope, and it became a handle. And that is what you will see in the verite collection. So that very much was infused from or inspired by just basket weaving I saw. And then you mentioned Gotland and Oaxaca and Marrakech. There's a new color called bergen. But sort of the light and colors that I see when I land in places, it really stays in my mind. I'm very, very visual as a learner and just as a listener, just in general, I just get a lot from listening or from visuals. Excuse me. So these colors stick in my mind. So I've started to really enjoy exploring the color palette and expressing the color palette through suedes in particular. So a lot of our suede colors are inspired by colors that I've seen. And I think I love suede in particular because. For a couple of reasons. First of all, the texture is matte, so it really eats up the light and really absorbs the color. So it's a really rich use of color, and light then makes it. The mat. Ness of it. And the fact that it doesn't reflect light makes it look rich. And then also because you have the sort of a pile on the fabric, you get highs and lows. You know, when you sort of rub your hand over suede, you can get sort of dark parts and light parts. And I like that movement a lot. So I found that color for. For me, feels often the strongest in. In suedes.
- [29:35]
Host
That's my favorite part, actually, about the verite bag. That. That big duffel bag is the handles, because it's just not something that you see often. And it's what my eye went to as soon as I saw that bag. And I was hoping that when you were saying the basket weave, I was like, this has to be in relation to those handles.
- [29:53]
Melissa Morris
Oh, I'm glad. That's so nice. Thank you.
- [29:56]
Host
So collectors, obviously often talk about the thrill of the hunt, and for you, there's so much that goes into creating a collection from travel and the materials and the collaborations. Do you experience that same excitement when designing and sourcing materials for metiers?
- [30:12]
Melissa Morris
Oh, my gosh. 1,000%. It is such a journey and an evolution of ideas and trying things and seeing them and aspects of it that you were really surprised by in a good way and in a bad way, and then pivoting and sort of adjusting and just feeling so excited about the end result. There's a closure. It was one of the first ones that I ever developed way back when. And Very much. We wanted it to sound like that very unique feeling when you close a vintage Porsche 911 door. That clack, that, that crisp sound that you only can get from this vintage car. And I've been trying to explain that to the Italian metal workers, but everyone understood. It's a reference that everyone understands, by the way, and everyone.
- [31:02]
Host
They understand cars.
- [31:03]
Melissa Morris
Yeah. So anyway, so the first ones we like, we did it and it sort of dinged. It didn't cluck, it just was like it didn't feel. It didn't feel substantial enough. And the next version was the opposite, like you needed a wrench to get it open. It was like so strong, which obviously isn't ideal. And then we had a bunch of other iterations and then finally the last one came and I'll never forget it, there was just like a bunch of us around a table and they, they, you know, I work with this metal studio in Italy and the head guy proudly brought it to me. It's like you could tell he knew he had it and put it down in front of me and everyone just watched and it went cluck and everyone went, eh. In a very Italian way. So it's sort of. Yeah, it's. And then we feel very proud about it and you know, then of course we struggle to figure out how to explain any of that to anyone on a website. Which again goes back to why I love a store. But yeah, it's the development of it is. That's the best part.
- [32:06]
Host
Are vintage cars on the docket for you to start collecting at some point?
- [32:09]
Melissa Morris
Oh, I mean, let's. I think I have to sell a couple more handbags first. Okay.
- [32:17]
Host
So your first store in Mayfair was inspired by storage compartments and vintage boats, which I think is so fun and interesting. Do you have a love for collecting or at least studying, you know, vintage travel trunks and vintage luggage and other really functional design pieces?
- [32:34]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. For me, designs from around the 60s or so are consistently ones that I am just in awe of. You know, even if you look at the GMT Master from Rolex, that original, what's called the Pepsi, that was the first watch to tell two time zones. And it's just the most cleverly simple solution. All you have to do is turn the dial and you can easily tell the second time zone. And you know, the today's version is much heavier and I don't know, it's just everything back then was reduced, reduced so much. Even if you think about car design and how beautiful the dashboard is, there's this Daimler from around that time that I'm obsessed with the gear stick. It's just, it looks like a piece of jewelry. And you know, everything was just so beautifully designed and every element was so thought through, but in a really reduced, elegant, minimal way. And you know, today it's very different. You have the big dashboards and giant seats in this big compartment between the front two passengers. And you know, even it just, it's not the same. There was something so sort of, you know, it's. We say it a lot in around mete world. We say it's reduced to perfection. It's sort of, it's not missing anything but not leaving you wanting anything. And it has plenty of soul. It's not that these things are minimal and you know, with. Devoid of personality. It has, it's just that perfect finish of a line or that perfect curve of that. It's just. Everything is just there and oozing with soul and care.
- [34:17]
Host
Yeah, I, you know, it's funny, I, I am with you on the watch stuff. I always say this to people and I always reference back to the gmt, which is funny because I'm like, how did they make it this thin and this small? And you have even better technology and resources today and you're making it bigger and thicker and chunkier than ever.
- [34:38]
Melissa Morris
I know. No, it's exactly.
- [34:39]
Host
I agree they're not beautiful, you know, in their own way, but like, it's definitely lost some charm.
- [34:45]
Melissa Morris
No, I know. And even that, you know, the original ones sort of, they patina. You even have sort of the red and the blue is now bronze and turquoise and I love that. I couldn't agree more. I think, yeah, there's a lot of designs that I end up loving, happen to be from around that time because even the color palettes, I for a long time was looking purely at colors based on vintage Porsche palettes. They're timeless.
- [35:11]
Host
Yeah. I mean, it's why Porsche is probably the most collected car brand in the collecting community. I don't think there's anybody or any brand rather that is more collected and has more enthusiasts than Porsche.
- [35:24]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, I was lucky enough, which was sort of a dream. I got to go to Singer to see the Singer Factory. When I was in la, I sort of died and they gave me about like a three hour tour of every detail and. And then at the end let me actually sit in one and it's incredible. But I mean the way that they take already just something that is such a design icon and yeah, the love and care it was an incredibly inspiring experience.
- [35:54]
Host
Next time you're in Italy, you should try and go to the Zagato factory.
- [35:58]
Melissa Morris
I know, I know, I know. It's on the list.
- [36:02]
Host
It's on the list because, I mean, I could see a whole collection just coming from what you see inside those four walls.
- [36:08]
Melissa Morris
Yeah. Gosh, it is incredible. I mean, but all of these things. I think, you know, design was always a form. And, you know, it's funny because I'm. Metier is sort of known as a luxury brand that's considering function, which for me is really funny, because design always did. You know, Christian Dior famously refused to cut a dress out of velvet for a woman going to the opera because he said, this isn't optimal. You'll be sitting all night. And that's not. That's you. You hire me as the designer to think of what's the best function for what you're trying to do. And you wouldn't buy a car if it didn't drive or. Yeah, so. Or a chair if it wasn't comfortable. It's. I think it was always. It's always such an important part of how, for me, how you think about creating something. Otherwise, it's. It's superfluous.
- [36:59]
Host
I want to go back to the conversation about collaborations, because we spoke about one side of the collaboration arm, which is, you know, your partners and the factories that you work with, but the other side are the brands and products and people that you collaborate with to make collections. And you rarely see it these days. And when you do see it, I feel like it rarely translates into products. It's usually as, like an ad campaign and someone's the face of something. But when you do collaborations, they feel so thoughtful and curated and intentional. And, I mean, you've collaborated with the incredible jeweler Fernando Giorgi and Layla Gohar and Gucci Westman and Marie Louise from Issimo and the Indiana Jones franchise. It's amazing. I would love to know from you why these types of collaborations feel so important to you and Metier as a whole.
- [37:50]
Melissa Morris
Well, you know, at the end of the day, Metier is a brand that is designing to make people's lives easier and better. And in the core essence of what Metier is, that's for travel. And I loved the idea of getting to put that lens on someone else. Another craft and another sort of masters of craft was how I thought about it when I was originally conceiving the brand. It was always a really important part of what I wanted to do. I loved the idea of you know, you often see collaborations where you take an artist's print and slap it on something, and I wanted to actually turn it on its head and say, let's collaborate and let me make something for you to make your life better. And, yeah, I mean, all of the collaborations have been really incredible for me as a designer, to be able to take what I do and apply it to what someone else needs in a completely different craft and then figure out the intersecting lines between our two brands and our ethos and getting to see someone else's interpretation of my work in a different way. It was. It's a really enriching experience, and I like to sort of the longevity of it, of getting to do multiple iterations. You know, I think one of the first collaboration was with Gucci Westman, and she's amazing. I mean, gosh, first of all, what a. Like, an amazingly kind, passionate powerhouse of a woman. She's incredible. But we've done three versions of our collaboration, and we're about to start talking about the fourth one. But the original came because she said, I want my dream makeup bag. I'm traveling all around the world, and she's doing so many photos. I swear, she must have, like, four clones. I don't know how she does everything she does, but that's how much she's traveling. And she said, I need something to keep me organized, but that's lightweight enough. And, you know, I was thinking about classic trunks, which, for me, still are the most perfect travel solution ever designed. But, you know, there's. There's. Everything is very much prescribed for everything that you're putting inside of it. And there's modularity, and it turns into almost a mini closet when you stand it upright. But we don't travel by steamship anymore. And unfortunately. Unfortunately. And we need smaller. You know, we need to be able to be more nimble with what we carry. And also, traveling has changed to being on the go every day from morning to night. And so I wanted to rethink about, okay, taking what's so great about trunks, that they are. Have compartments, that they are modular, that when you open them, they are almost mini closets in a way. And how I could apply that to each smaller item that you pack in. So with. For Westman Atelier, when you open it up, you'll see it stands on its own as, like, a little makeup box that you. I actually use it for all my makeup, you know, at. At home, because it just. It fits it perfectly, and it stands up on its own, and you have a little Hidden compartment for all of your makeup brushes and other things. And then there's sort of little ones going through the middle, little compartments for. Sort of customized for the sticks for the Westman atelier foundation, sticks, et cetera. And I don't know, I love to be able to create something that, you know, she said every makeup bag she had ended up, you know, things were just almost a mini bottomless pit inside, or they were this big box that took up half of the suitcase, or they just weren't nimble enough. And so it was a really interesting design challenge. And then in a similar way, the same thing when I, you know, Fernando has been a really close friend. We both live in London, and. And he saw what I did with. With Gucci and said, you know, I'd love if we could do that for jewelry, too. Everyone's always complaining about these jewelry cases that are like, you know, take up half your suitcase and blah, blah, blah, blah. So that was also really fun. And I, you know, it's. It is a real challenge, but it's. And also every creative person works in such a different way, which is also very interesting. So for me, it really enriches what my own process. But I also really like that it represents that everything we do is for the person that we're creating for. And it's not about taking what you have and stamping it on what I do. It's the opposite. And that, you know, the name metier is. It's very much, you know, it means, of course, your job or your profession, but much more your reason for being and your purpose. And, of course, it reflects our metier of what we're doing, but it's actually much more about the client's metiers. And we're creating pieces for them to do their metiers better that live their lives in a better way. And so the name of the brand is actually reflecting the same thing.
- [42:44]
Host
You do such a great job at storytelling. I mean, just through the designs that you create alone. And I think it's such a talent that most people don't have the ability to have. I mean, I think you see things and view things way differently than most people, which is probably what has made you so successful in what you do. And storytelling is such an important piece of collecting, especially when it comes to these collaborations. But it's also really difficult to get right. You can overdo it, you can underdo it, and it seems that you really find that equilibrium to make it just right. And I'd love to know if storytelling is a large Part of the conversation when it comes to you and whoever you're collaborating with, when you guys sit down and say, okay, here's what we want to design now, how do we tell this story?
- [43:28]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, a thousand percent. For the first collaboration with Westman, I presented three different concepts that had three different design languages. All three, I felt were really appropriate for both brands. And we started from there, and one was more, say, nautical, and another one was more minimal or whatever it was. And, you know, we sort of started from there and built a whole world around, you know, with the. From the color palettes and the materials and. And the way we photographed it, but probably nothing more so than when I got to collaborate with Joanna Johnston from Indiana Jones, because that really was based on a story of what this character was doing. And, you know, it was about a woman who's a bit of a renegade and, you know, a bit of a rebel, and she sort of collects things from all over her travels. So we had to put all of this, like, patchwork inside the bags, and. Oh, she'd be the sort of woman who'd pick up, you know, some form of hardware or something and stitch it in her bag and then hang. Hang something from it. Or, you know, she's also, you know, a card shark, and so we should have a secret compartment in a bag, because she'd probably stash earnings in there. Or, you know, it was. It was a whole story, and it was so cool to be able to develop that. And, I mean, no. 1. Joanna is just such a cool woman and just pretty. Just an incredible force, and she just loves to get. I mean, she. I think that's why she loves working in film, because of the storytelling element. And my job was where, in that case, she was definitely the one who was guiding the story. And my job was to say, okay, all of that makes perfect sense. Here's how we're going to do this, and, of course, here's how it's going to feel uniquely and authentically appropriate for metier and Indiana Jones together and be a version that clients can have as well. So we decided that she would give me all of these different fabrics from the costume design, and we created all of these, like, quilted patchworks and put them inside the bags and made a limited edition run for clients. And she sent me Indiana Jones's leather from his leather jacket, and we made a couple special pieces out of that. And she was so focused on the character, and I was so focused on how to translate that for our clients, because everything I do is I just Think about. Of course I think about them. And that was such a fun, fun push and pull, but every single person has been so different to get to collaborate with, and it's really a fun part of what we do now.
- [46:11]
Host
I think it's also important to note some of the special devotees to your brand as well. Her Royal Highness, Princess of Wales, Sarah Paulson, Sienna Miller, Nicole Kidman, Brooke Shields, Conan O'Brien, Alexa Chung, Uma Abedin, Rosie Huntington Whitley, Natalie Emanuel and Idris Elba and so many others. And I would love to know how it feels that not only are your pieces collected by the aforementioned, but really collected by those that just love your brand in general.
- [46:40]
Melissa Morris
It's. I mean, it's amazing. I mean, those are. I always say I have the best clients in the world, and it's really not a line. Those are some of the maybe more well known clients that we have, but they're all so inspiring. It's just people that are charting their own path in life and, and really know who they are and know what they want and know what they like. And they. It's the sort of person that when you watch them close the bag and they see the zipper moves like butter, they get it. They just know it. They're just people that are really going their own way in life and doing things with real purpose and passion. And it is, it is an incredible group of people.
- [47:21]
Host
I love it. Okay, before we wrap it up with the Collector's Gene rundown, I wanted to ask you about a few of my favorite pieces and maybe you could tell me what they were inspired by. Does that sound okay?
- [47:31]
Melissa Morris
Yeah, of course.
- [47:32]
Host
Okay, so we already talked about the, the. The Weekender with the basket weaving handles. But let's start with the Racer 53. And honestly, I can't choose a favorite color. I mean, the cacao is, you know, you got to add it to your wish list because that's sold out. But the Elvis black, the suede khaki is amazing. I honestly, I love this bag. It's incredible.
- [47:52]
Melissa Morris
Thank you. This is a new one that we launched last holiday and can't seem to keep it in stock, which is very cool. The inspiration behind it, men's bags. It's funny, I felt like having something that was slouchy and cool, but still luxe and sort of sexy was really missing. And this bag, I imagined I wanted something that would be as suitable for someone like Steve McQueen on a motorcycle as Gianni Agnelli. And that was a little bit more classic in a way, you know, that could sort of of go both ways. That is, you know, a JFK Jr. Or some sort of more rock and roll a little bit. It was sort of bridging both. So it's kind of very classic lines. All of the seams and the way where I stop stitching things at different points allow a very unique slouch that took a while to orchestrate, you know, and then you add the two zippers on the front. That gives it that little bit of punch as well. So it's. So, yeah, it's bridging. Classic and daring.
- [48:52]
Host
Yeah. No, it's spectacular to me. It reminds me of. You see this bag in the backseat of a vintage 911. You see it in the frunk. You see it just sitting in there, ready to go. Whether someone's using it to go to the grocery store or pick up their meal or go on a trip. There's just so many ways I see this bag being used. It's awesome. Awesome. So we already talked about the other Weekender, but let's talk about the Vagabond duffel for a second, because this is, to me, maybe, like, between this and the Nomad Weekender, you kind of see the relation there. But it looks like maybe the Vagabond has a little bit more storage components. The Nomad, if I'm not mistaken, maybe, like, slightly bigger.
- [49:37]
Melissa Morris
They're actually both. The footprint is the maximum you can take on an airplane and put it on the overhead compartment. And actually the Nomad has a secret magnet pocket in the top seam. It's just the storage on the Vagabond is more overt in a way, because the pockets and the zippers. The Vagabond, though, if you undo the clips on the side and just lay it flat, you'll see it's very much inspired by a vintage motorcycle jacket. So the way the seams and the curves on the bag, they follow the way you would see on the shape of a. Of a moto jacket.
- [50:13]
Host
I love it. Okay, now we're going to talk about a couple of my favorite accessories. Let's start with the Backgammon set. Because it's so funny, anytime my wife and I, we travel, we bring a travel backgammon set. And it's this, like, dingy little thing that we got on Amazon. It's, like, falling apart to shreds. But we don't travel anywhere without it, and we. We set it up on the plane. It's like, one of our favorite things to do. We play by the pool. But I love the way that you've done it with like the cups kind of being the end of the role there. It's really interesting.
- [50:45]
Melissa Morris
Thanks. Yeah. So I also, I love to play board games and cards and I think it's probably a similar thing where it's about tactile in person experiences and. Yeah, just, just being present together, which is. Is very, very rewarding. I grew up playing cards with my dad almost every night, so. Yeah. But this is pretty. This is very cool. I mean, this is really an opportunity for us to show off a little bit with our craftsmanship because of the way that the, the marketry of this, of the. Of the backgammon board is all heat sealed set in. It's. It's really a work of art. And the, and the dice as well are sort of these like wooden pieces that I've puzzled together and we've put in a little like a weight inside so that they roll properly. But they're. Everything's very. And the pieces are all leather covered and it is very bespoke. But also from the travel set that I had had and used forever, it didn't have the cups because it just. It didn't have it for the same reason that yours doesn't probably. And I really missed that experience of getting to shake it and seeing what dice you're going to get. And it just. For me, that was such a part of it.
- [52:01]
Host
So you had to have it.
- [52:03]
Melissa Morris
Yeah. So I'm happy I found a way to do it. And actually there's a hidden magnet at the bottom of the cup and a hidden magnet at the end of the roll so that it suctions in.
- [52:14]
Host
Amazing. So smart. The way you use magnets like in your bags and all that sort of stuff is so genius. And, and I love that it's kind of become like a signature material or accessory if you, for lack of a better term that you guys use. It's great.
- [52:30]
Melissa Morris
Yeah. Thanks.
- [52:31]
Host
Let's talk about the long haul toiletry, because I know we spoke a little bit about the toiletry cases a little bit earlier, but the long haul really reminds me of an old trunk.
- [52:40]
Melissa Morris
Yeah.
- [52:41]
Host
And I love that, like I look at it and I just see a vintage Goyard trunk, which I love.
- [52:47]
Melissa Morris
You know, that was. We launched with the packing pouches and the whole idea was to modernize the trunk. That was where the idea from what I did for Westman Atelier was an extension from. But these, no one in all. We're coming on our eighth year of being in business and no one has ever picked up on this before, so I'm very impressed. But, yeah, they are. They're each dimension for a different type of item you pack. And then inside, they each have the different functionalities you need for that item. So, of course, the toiletry kit, I've put a secret lid, a secret compartment underneath the lid, because otherwise it's unused real estate. And, you know, it's a way to tuck away your razor or toothbrush or whatever, Whatever, other smaller things. And then they're all dimensioned to stack together in grids, and that all fit into the different bags as well. So they're. It sort of was really about how I could take the trunk and how everything's so perfectly dimensioned and how when you unopen the trunk, it's its own mini closet. And in the same way, for anyone that's sort of been on a trip where you're. So for me, when I go to Italy, it's like I'm two days in Florence, two days in Naples. Sometimes I go straight then to Paris, sometimes to London, wherever I am. And every time you have to unpack and repack, it's annoying. Then you don't. But then you pull out one shirt from the stack in your suitcase, and everything gets messed up. So by having these packing pouches, you just take out the boxes, open them up, and you have. They're all sort of organized for you. You don't have to unpack and repack. And it was. The whole concept came from how we could modernize the trunk. I love that you picked up on this.
- [54:34]
Host
I love that. I did, too. I feel like I'm a little bit smarter today.
- [54:40]
Melissa Morris
And seriously and all. I mean, I started designing the. Working on the collection 11 years ago, and it took three years, and then we launched it eight years this April, so in a couple weeks. And in all of that time, no one has ever picked up on it.
- [54:53]
Host
Amazing. I love that. Well, it's. It's certainly one of my favorite pieces, and I appreciate you telling me a little bit about each. I could have easily have asked you about every item on the website, because they're all incredible. But let's wrap it up with the collector's gene rundown. You kind of know the drill. You can answer these questions based on anything that you personally collect, whether it's an experience of travel, whether it's something you saw that inspired you for a collection, or whether it's something directly related to metier. Totally up to you. And the first one is, what's the one that got away?
- [55:25]
Melissa Morris
So that's Easy. There are these hand painted bowls that at this most amazing restaurant. When I was in Oaxaca, we were there for a photo shoot and had a long road ahead of multiple stops for this photo shoot throughout Mexico. And then I was ending in Mexico City for a few days just for myself, and I thought I would break them. There's no way. This is sort of one of those beautiful things that you buy and then you're frustrated that you're not going to or scared you won't be able to take care of it. And I didn't, and I really, really regret it.
- [56:00]
Host
Oh, have you ever emailed them to see if they'd ship you some?
- [56:03]
Melissa Morris
I haven't, actually. I probably should.
- [56:06]
Host
I've started doing that because we were in Lake Como and I've told this story a few times, but we were in Lake Como and I really wanted the wine list book from Villa d'este because it's this massive leather bound red book and it's like. I'm looking at it right now across the room. It is. When I say massive, it's like something that you see sitting on its own shelf. Like, it's. It's huge. I was like, there's no way I'm taking this home. I didn't even ask. And then I was like, there's no way they'd even send one. I was speaking to someone on the show a couple weeks ago and she's like, have you ever just thought to email them and see if they'd send you one? And so I did, and it came in the mail. And so I think you should find the restaurant, email them, and they'll package them up safely and send them to you.
- [56:49]
Melissa Morris
Maybe I will.
- [56:51]
Host
All right, what's the on deck circle? So what's next for you in collecting? Maybe something you're hunting after?
- [56:56]
Melissa Morris
I really want this work by the artist Ann Collier. She's one of my favorite female artists and she's done an incredible photograph series. And there's sort of one in particular that I am desperately hunting for. It's a shot from Ingrid Bergman's Ingrid Bergman's Persona. And I can't find it anywhere and I'm desperate to.
- [57:20]
Host
Okay, well, we're on the hunt. How about the unobtainable? So this is something that is just so expensive in a museum, a private collection, just complete unobtainium.
- [57:32]
Melissa Morris
Well, it's unobtainable for me now, but there is. I recently saw an exhibition by the artist Nicholas Pardi, and his works just make me smile. There are just these Giant large scale pieces with. With such bright, bold colors and really exaggerated human forms. And I've always wanted them, wanted one especially now, but it is very much out of my price range. But maybe, maybe not all forever.
- [58:01]
Host
How about the page one rewrite? So if Bunny was no object and you could collect anything else besides maybe art or any of the things that you're interested in, what would it be?
- [58:09]
Melissa Morris
That's easy. Vintage Porsche 911S.
- [58:12]
Host
Done. Easy. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world or who do you think is a great collector?
- [58:20]
Melissa Morris
My friend. Her name is Silke Ritson Thomas. I find that she has the most interesting and impeccable taste of anyone I know. It's just so authentically her. And, you know, I think probably any of my favorite collectors that I think of, they're all friends because I know them and so I know their personalities and that they. What they have reflects who they are. So I suppose it's bias in a way, but she in particular has such an extraordinary way of seeing things, putting them together, and it's just full of such life, humor, intellect. There. I cannot. It's impossible to not spend a minute with her and not walk away. Inspired.
- [59:08]
Host
The hunt or the ownership? Which one do you enjoy more?
- [59:13]
Melissa Morris
I think both in equal measure. I mean, I love discovering pieces and finding them and choosing curating, editing, and then I love when I get home. And then you're home and you look over in the same way you just did with the Villa d'este book. And it reminds you of a really special time and where you were in a specific moment in time. And time goes so fast. So having sort of these touchstones that you can look at at home and remember where you were and remember the sounds and the sights and the tastes, who you're with and. Yeah, so.
- [59:49]
Host
So both for me and most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
- [59:55]
Melissa Morris
Yes, I do, but in a minimalistic way. I. I love to have few things, but all that I. That I truly love. So I like to sort of carefully curate and decide what comes in.
- [60:07]
Host
Amazing. Melissa Morris, founder of Metier. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Go visit the store in Mayfair and keep an eye out for our US store coming very soon, if I understand correctly.
- [60:17]
Melissa Morris
Fingers crossed.
- [60:19]
Host
I love it. Thanks so much for coming on.
- [60:21]
Melissa Morris
Thank you so much for having me.
- [60:25]
Host
All right, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.