I spent over 25 years in design, starting out in London and working across some of the UK's top magazines and newspapers. I loved every minute of it — but I'd always had a creative life outside of work too. In my spare time I started making jewelry, statement necklaces mostly, combining beads and threads and completely losing myself in it. That was the seed of everything.

Then my husband was offered a job, and we moved. First to China, then to the Philippines. Suddenly I had the time and space to develop my craft properly. Manila became my design school and my muse. I discovered the extraordinary handweaving traditions there — the intricate Solihiya rattan work, the delicate Buntal straw weaving from indigenous Philippine palms. Techniques passed down through generations, made with patience and skill I deeply admired.

I wanted to make bags. Beautiful, distinctive bags that carried this story inside them. I did a bag design course, learned to build mock-ups from paper and card, and slowly started building something of my own.

Soli & Sun was born from all of it: the magazine years, the Manila years, the love of color and craft. Today our bags are stocked in boutiques, resort shops and luxury hotels across the United States — including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton — and I still design every single one of them myself.