“The dictates of work are as compelling for a woman as for a man”
(Barbara Hepworth)
Sculptor, Barbara Hepworth, has been an inspiration throughout my life. An all-time favourite of my mother, I was introduced to her work at a young age and grew up with it. Initially fascinated by her smooth tactile textures and by her abstract yet natural forms, I later discovered her remarkable strengths as a woman and artist.
A trip to St Ives in 2019 to visit both Tate St Ives and The Hepworth’s Trewyn studio & garden was so captivating, it became the backbone of my Nadia Minkoff London ‘BaH Collection’.
“Ideas come with a rush in a place like that & I feel that forms will become concrete at great speed.”
(Barbara Hepworth, The Sculptor in the Studio/Sophie Bowness)
St Ives was battered by gale force winds on the day of my visit, so strong as to make it impossible to walk along the waterfront, it was eerily quiet and deserted bar the noise of the wind battering the rooftops and whistling down the narrow cobbled alleyways of St Ives. I had the fortune of experiencing Trewyn studios and garden entirely on my own, apart from a large tabby cat, happily asleep next to the door.
The BaH Collection is a deeply personal homage to Barabara Hepworth’s work, studio and her many attributes which I have found so inspiring:
Ambition, determination, clarity of shape and form, balance and the ability to translate female physical experiences into her art.
“The BaH collections aesthetics and colours are drawn from this journey, minimal and clean I hope they encapsulate my interpretation of Barbara Hepworth whose enduring legacy continues to be as remarkable both as a female trailblazer and as an artist.”
The St Ives Tote bag exploring curved edges and smooth metallic leathers
The Full Circle belt bag, designed to be both feminine and functional
The Barbara Half Moon bag, sculptural and stand-alone
The ‘kelp green’ leather Rena bag, a nod to the garden and sea in an oily, textural leather
The Abstraction pouch, minimalist, clean and timeless
