Artisan Transforms Old Leather Couches Into Stylish One-of-a-Kind Purses

Upcycled Handbags From Couch

With the right skills and an eye for sustainability, Lisa Crick transforms old leather couches into stylish handbags. The large pieces of furniture—still with life left—become the raw materials for her purses. The shiny blues and soft browns of her bags show the power of upcycling and highlight how we don’t need to produce more to have more; we need to get creative with what’s already available. You'd never realize these bags were once chairs.

Crick had the upcycling idea four years ago when she decided to make bags from old curtains. “Since then,” she tells My Modern Met, “I’ve been honing my craft and teaching myself to sew with anything that I could get a needle through. After all, just how much waste material and clothing do we have?” She created a business called New Baginnings to sell the things she’s made.

While perfecting her skills, a friend gave her a well-worn leather chair to use. “The leather was so beautiful,” Crick recalls, “where age and time had given it a patina of life. I made a bag.” She then logged onto Facebook Marketplace and saw just how many “free to collector” chairs and couches were available. If they weren’t taken, then they were headed to the landfill.

Crick has taken advantage of this free raw material, but it’s not without a lot of work. “The first sofa I stripped and turned into bags had a big water stain on the seat but was a stunner nonetheless,” she explains. “I stripped it and repurposed the leather into a ToteBag to start, sent a pic back to the sofa owner who asked to buy it! At that point, I knew I had something good—if you're prepared to give me something for free and then I sell it back to you…”

Beyond making things that are beautiful, Crick finds it very rewarding and satisfying to create something out of an object that was once considered waste. “I make a beautiful bag from something that was ugly—it was never ugly just needed a new approach to its beauty. We’re quick to accept a rip or a tear or a mark of an imperfection as something that is no longer wanted, needed, or even accepted, so by repurposing it and showing you it in a different light.”

Crick sells her bags through Facebook. Visit her New Baginnings shop there to see what she’s got on sale next.

Lisa Crick transforms old leather couches into stylish handbags.

Upcycled Handbags From Couch

The large pieces of furniture—still with life left—become the raw materials for her purses.

Upcycled Handbags From Couch

The purses show the power of upcycling and highlight how we don’t need to produce more to have more; we need to get creative with what’s already available.

Upcycled Handbags From CouchUpcycled Handbags From Couch

Crick starts with a full couch or chair.

Upcycled Handbags From Couch

She then strips it down, removes the stuff, and cuts the leather into pattern pieces for bags.

Upcycled Handbags From Couch

You'd never realize they were once chairs.

Upcycled Handbags From CouchNew Baginnings: Website | Instagram | Facebook

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Lisa Crick. 

Related Articles:

7 Trendy Upcycling Ideas That Breathe Creative Life Into Everyday Items

Learn How to Upcycle Your Jars and Vases With DIY Glass Painting

25 Eco-Friendly Products to Reduce Waste in Style

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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