U-HANDBAG, LISA AND THE TEAM

U-Handbag was founded in 2005 by Lisa Lam and is based in the UK in Brighton, we are a specialist one-stop-shop that stocks everything you need to make handmade bags, whatever the occasion, for yourself or selling professionally.  We have a wide selection of beautiful goodies, including bag handles, metal hardware accessories, haberdashery, interfacings & linings, fabrics, books & patterns as well as bag/purse making kits.

We are run by a small team of enthusiastic real-life craft fiends who love making things, we pride ourselves on our warm and helpful service and are always looking at ways to improve our customer's experience.   We're here to inspire you, no matter your bag making level, so please feel free to contact us for advice or help with an order here.  We hand pick, pack and dispatch orders placed before 1 pm WORLDWIDE, within 24 hours Monday to Friday.  Please shop with confidence as we only stock high-quality products that we would love to use ourselves.  Like you, we are always looking for new and unusual items to feed our addiction, so pop back often to see what new goodies we have in the shop.  We hope, like us, that you enjoy browsing our site and lovely products and get that excited fuzzy feeling like you did when you were a kid in a sweet shop :)

VAT No: 973 8454 73
Useful tips & links to start you off: Go to our FAQ page for useful Q&A's like "How do I shop?", read some interesting articles in our blog or view our instagram account.

Hi, I'm Lisa Lam.  I started U-Handbag because I loved making bags and crafting and it was nigh on impossible to find a supplier who sold bag making accessories in the UK, oh and what better way to spend your day than doing the thing you love.

12 years on I've written two books: 'The Bag Making Bible' and 'A Bag for All Reasons', many patterns, done several Craftsy classes as an instructor and just recently appeared as a guest presenter on the Sewing Quarter, you can find me giggling away in my debut appearance here.

I still live in Brighton with my hubby and my baby girl, who is not such a baby anymore.  When she isn't in school we spend our days between crazy golf, making beach scenes out of cardboard boxes, sticky backed plastic and a glue gun, designing new patterns for the shop, making cakes in the kitchen and lots more besides.  My husband and I still love the party/club scene (when kid sitting allows) and are trying to give my daughter a rounded influence in music, although I think I may go mad if I hear one more song by 'Little Mix' :)

Hi, I'm Karen. I have been with U-Handbag since February 2016, the time has flown by and the shop has gotten ever more challenging and exciting in equal measure.  New products and bag makes give us pleasure and inspiration, as there is always a new take on the old, reminding us that the choices are limitless and the fun is never-ending.  My days in the office are varied so having a background as a PA has helped to sort out the plethora of hats I wear day to day, which include customer orders and queries, finance, goods orders, business planning, photography, to mention a few.

I studied Fine Art, which was thrilling and the choices were BIG, just my cup of coffee.  I love to design and make as it gives me the chance to create something unique, it is both a challenge as it is a pleasure.

Things that excite me include my hubby ‘Paul’, our cat ‘Mr D’, craft, clever design, sculpture, well thought out architecture, upcycling, gardening, conservation, finding a solution to a problem, community, humour, banter and so much more …..  this was a difficult list to keep short I can tell ya :)

Hi, I'm Sarah and I do the design work for U-Handbag, which includes taking all the pics, creating the website banners, putting together the lucky dips and fabric bundles and running the UH Instagram account.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to go to art school (and stroke a panda). I did manage the first one (but sadly not the second) and went on to work as an illustrator with clients such as ELLE magazine, Ecover, The Telegraph and Oxford University Press.  I also worked as a freelance textile designer for several years. The Crafting Force was strong in this one, however, and I kept dropping out to have adventures in things like papier mâché and mosaic.

I was lucky enough to spend over a year working on various mosaic projects with the designer (and colour-mixing legend) Kaffe Fassett, which culminated in a gold medal-winning garden for the Chelsea Flower Show.  I now run my own business, Shark Alley, designing jewellery inspired by birds and animals.  When I'm not otherwise engaged in making I can be found lolling on the sofa watching many films with my fiancé Dan, playing endless games of Scrabble or throwing some extravagant shapes on the dance floor (actually, for 'dance floor' read 'kitchen').