Sometimes less truly is more. Just ask Onezieme Mouton.
Sometimes less truly is more. Just ask Onezieme Mouton. The Abbeville-born designer has created a line of bags that is at once simple and, yet, far from simplistic. It is design done thoughtfully. Less about fashion. And more about pure, perfected design.
"It's six pieces of leather held together by six rivets. It's a very simple bag ... the construction is unique," Mouton says.
The line of bags began as a project Mouton's senior year at Rice while he studied architecture with the first prototypes for his "carrying device" made from gasket rubber. He created something he would gladly take as a portfolio case on interviews, gifted friends with them for graduation presents and soon those friends who had landed in NYC were getting a response.
He began working on the bags, took a break and returned to the project two years ago. He moved from the more industrial materials to leather and to date has 16 retailers across the country carrying his bags - five versions in six colors of leather.
And now, to the pronunciation: "I usually say Tony without the T and then add the zim."
Locally the bags are available at kiki and Genterie Supply Co.