News . Feature Stories . Grad's Handcrafted Bags Benefit CIA
October 25, 2010
Madeline Hoyle '09 has founded Blicksbags, a line of handcrafted bags that incorporate reclaimed materials like CIA's old vinyl banners.
When Madeline Hoyle decided to make a messenger bag for her first industrial design project at The Cleveland Institute of Art, she had no idea she had just launched her future career.
“I found out there’s a small scene of custom bag makers, started by people really passionate about bike transportation,” said Hoyle. “I realized I could carve out a market for myself.”
Now, a year after her 2009 graduation from CIA, she’s done just that as the principal, lead designer, and lead craftsperson of Blicksbags—a company she founded out of her Cleveland Heights studio.
For this year’s CIA Faculty Exhibition, Hoyle teamed up with industrial design professor Dan Cuffaro to design a CIA-themed bag. The DC01 executive-level computer bag is designed in CIA orange and gray, lined with vinyl from old CIA banners (like those shown in the background of the picture above), and decorated with an emblem hand-etched by enameling professor Gretchen Goss. Hoyle has pledged to donate 10% of each DC01 sale to the Institute.
So what’s next for Blicksbags? “I’d like to open a storefront,” she says. Until then, Hoyle’s handcrafted bags and accessories are available at blicksbags.com, and select wallets and half-moon purses are sold at the Whole Foods in University Heights, Ohio.
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