Interview: Carlos Falchi – Artist and Designer
Published on November 14th, 2008.
Carlos Falchi is truly living the American Dream. If you meet this man, who is so driven with passion for his craft, you will see in his eyes the joy he has towards his work, his family, and his life. After immigrating to the US in the 60’s, Falchi found his way at one of the hippest New York City bars, Max’s Kansas City, where he mingled with the A-listers of the time. Eventually he was designing clothing for the likes of Miles Davis, Mick Jagger, Elvis Presley and Tina Turner. It would seem that Falchi had an extensive education in fashion design, and while he indirectly did because of his mother’s background in wedding dress design, Falchi came into the scene without traditional schooling but a true love and passion of creating something special. His edgy clothing designs made it on stage in NYC concerts. And his transition into handbags was by chance, but has lead him to where he is today.
Today, you will still find Carlos Falchi in his NYC office working. Every sample is created by his hands and no piece or scrap goes to waste. Falchi works with his wife and raves about his daughters, one who is working with him now. His true love and devotion to his handbags is not only evident in the designs, but shows through after speaking with him for just a few minutes. We spent two hours with Carlos and parts of his team and gained unique insights in an artist’s work and life. What caught Vlad and I the most was the undying love and passion for what it is that he does. When you buy a Carlos Falchi bag, rest assured that the amount of time, skill and energy going into your very design is out of this world. And if you are drawn to one of his many hand-painted designs, we will let you in on a little known fact; every hand-painted Falchi design is done by Carlos Falchi himself. A true master, a truly amazing person, and a designer that you will hear much more about on our site.
This is the best interview yet!!! Thank you so much
Thanks for doing this great interview! and do you happen to know how much the painted python bag on page 3 costs?? And where I can lay my hands on one? Even my boyfriend who was next to me reading a mag said.. “whoa.. WOW thats great.”
Evster, the hand-painted bag you mentioned costs $1570 (all thumbnails are clickable for more info!). Inquire here for availability:
http://www.carlosfalchionline.com/contactus
I met Falchi at a personal appearance at Neiman’s in the DC area. He was a very lovely person and the bags are beautiful. For the price though, I would have expected a suede lining. The quality of the Jimmy Choo exotics is comparable and better constructed imo for the same price.
It’s good to see a talent from my country doing so many beatiful things. It’s a pity he doesn’t come to Brazil as much anymore.
jane, while I appreciate your input, I will tend to rather side with the word of a person I actually met, instead of a comment posted anonymously.
Jane –
I will follow up and look into it. I don’t see why anyone would lie… I really do not think he would, but I will ask. Where did you get your info from?
Thank you for publishing this lovely interview! Mr. Falchi did a line that he marketed on QVC about 10 years ago and I used to love watching him make his personal appearances. He was so creative and entertaining and gracious. In those years there may not have been so much pressure from the tv shopping channels for their high-end designers to cut cost corners for the mass market. I splurged and purchased an amazing all shearling Carlos Falchi bag from QVC. It was a limited edition — pure, undyed, untreated shearling. Imagine a huge pouch with the shearling fur on the inside and the “raw” suede on the outside. Fabulous! Alas, it was an enormous bag and I ended up selling it just a few years ago. Thanks for the memories….!
great interview! – love his way of using everything and let nothing go to waste
I had the opportunity to meet Carlos in person and he is everything as you have described him – a first class professional and a wonderful person. His handbag products are to die for, and he manages to cover various price ranges, from microfiber to exotics.
i love the interview. got to know the designer that i love so much. the bags are awesome, and i would love to win one, since money is so tight, and i could use is desperately!!!!! please, pleae, please………
It seems he was really put on earth to do what he does. You can understand it from the passion with which he speaks and the amount he gets involved. I would prefer to give money to buy one of his bags than one from a massive house with a huge production line.
Hi! I recently purchased my first Carlos Falchi bag from Neiman Marcus. It is the crushed lamb poof bag and it is absolutely to die for. Such a gorgeous piece of art. About 4 or 5 years ago, I passed on a motorcycle bag that I saw on the Neiman’s catalog. That bag has haunted me for years. Since becoming a member of the purse forum, I have collected Louis Vuitton extensively. However, after finally taken the plunge to the Carlos Falchi crushed lamb, I have decided to branch out and discover other fabulous designers. Thank you purse forum Meg and Vlad for publishing this interview! Veronika
What a fascinating man and interesting interview……thank you!
Great interview!The bags are very beautiful!!!! thank you Vlad and Meg!!!
I enjoyed this interview. Among other things, it reminded me why I love the art of the handbag… and stories of success, too!
A truly inspiring story! I love his handbags!
He is an artist, whose canvas is his handbags
Great interview; thanks to Megs and Vlad for sharing this! I really admire that Carlos Falchi does not stray from his humble beginnings of using scraps to make art/handbags. What a true artist and a true ‘green’ capitalist!
I just wanted to share some first hand info about Carlos. I have worked for him for a few years and he is a wonderful man. An incredible designer- with an amazing eye and full of creativity! The office is a family environment- and always full of fun! He really wants everyone to enjoy their job, treats them great, has a wonderful family– and it makes you want to work even harder! Not to mention the bags are beautiful- and made right here in our office! It is so cool- and I think everyone should have a CF bag- it is $$ well spent and you will have it for the rest of your life! I hope everyone gets to meet him someday!
Salve Carlos!
Since those difficult days in the seventies there was no doubt about your talent and sucess.
After years rediscovering Brasil in Porto Seguro, I´m back in Rio organizing the ARCHIVOS IMPOSSIBLES for a retrospective expo. Some photos of that atelier in Madison Ave. will be on. Would like to re-contact you personally. please send e-mail/tel. Abração