Take a walk into the whimsical world of Beepy Bella that founder Isabella Lalonde has delicately designed for the inner child in us all.
From playful glass pendants, fit for a fairytale, to artisanal accessories adorned with fruit-inspired features, LA-based Lalonde has cultivated an ethereal utopia that continues to expand with the new unique addition to the Beepy Bella universe. Shaped and sculpted from glass, the Glass Bags are a trio of art pieces that push the creative boundaries of the brand beyond what Lalonde has welded before.
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
With the Glass Bags, the brains behind Beepy Bella enters a new era that allows her to be as imaginative and innovative as ever. Star-shaped and shrouded in three different shades, the Glass Bags take cues from – and are named after – Lalonde’s favorite flavors, Blueberry Drip, Black Currant and Cherry Ice. Food and flavors are a common theme for the brand, seen in the handmade handbags and kitschy jewelry, as a way to communicate with Lalonde’s community by appealing to their senses of taste and touch.
“In my art practice, I find flavors and colors to be the most inspiring factor,” she shares. “I love cooking. There is nothing that brings me more serenity than creating little potions with my food and knowing that whoever ingests my creations will be cured with the love I put into the meals.”
“Making art is very similar to me,” she continues. “I like to build potions with my pieces and create a magical spell that only the viewer can understand and respond to if they wish. The ability to communicate with others via [the] inanimate objects that I create is a mesmerizing phenomenon to me.”
Through this trio, the inventive designer not only plays with her imagination, diving into darker tones not often seen in Beepy Bella’s colorful whimsy world, she also showcases her increased skill set in glassblowing, having made each bag herself with the help of her assistant. Although glass has always been a part of her creative process from Lalonde’s time at Parsons School of Design – and a facet of Beepy Bella’s design DNA – the Glass Bags take things to the next level.
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
Isabella Lalonde/Beepy Bella
In an interview with Hypebae, Isabella Lalonde of Beepy Bella speaks to the new star-shaped sculptures, the ins-and-outs of glassblowing, particularly for the Glass Bags, and the new era Beepy Bella’s entering.
Talk to me about your relationship with glass, in your personal life and in your creative craft, and how it inspired you to create the Glass Bags.
Glass blowing, and more specifically, flame working (making beads from glass) has been a passion of mine before I even started Beepy Bella. When I studied Fine Arts at Parsons in NYC, I gave myself a couple of years to exponent with as many different types of mediums as I possibly could, in hopes that I would find “the one.” Every successful artist has “the one” [and] what I mean by that is, I believe there is a medium in which the artist’s creativity is translated most fluently to their audience. For me, it wasn’t necessarily just glass blowing, but more so what I ended up doing with my glass beads.
The first time I tried playing with glass, I felt a rush of adrenaline I had never experienced before. I truly felt like a wizard. Working with hot glass is a lot like playing with honey, it melts the same way. You need to constantly be surveying the temperature of your glass, the flame, the air around the flame, how close your cold glass rod is to the hot flame, etc. The focus it demands from you is both exhilarating and meditative at the same time. I found it to be a very high class hobby that I could then pair with my more “childish” art practice motifs of mushrooms, bugs and fairies.
The Glass Bags were inspired by vintage Italian modani glass vases I like to collect. I always love decorating my space like an eclectic Italian grandmother who is a little kooky and color-obsessed. The Glass Bags were born from my curiosity to broaden my horizons and make pieces of art that are a bigger scale than what I am known for within jewelry making. I wanted them to stand on their own. The shape is inspired by a star.
The Glass Bags were handmade by you in Los Angeles. What was the creative and design process like working with glass?
The bags were sketched on the floor of the over heated glass studio with a piece of chalk. We made Cherry Ice first and I learned how to shape, sculpt the piece from a talented local artisan in LA. It was all an experiment. [I asked my self] “how much could I stretch my art practice? How accurately could I depict my original idea knowing that we only get one shot with the hot glass?”
We had to create a mold for the star shape — the body of the bag — and the first one broke. It took six hours. So, we created another mold. The process [doesn’t guarantee a] result, so you’re working with fire and flame, overheated in the studio, sweating out of every pore, but mentally – that doesn’t matter. You better be fully locked in to create the shape and structure of your original design. I found the experiment to be extremely fascinating and empowering, especially as a woman working in such a labor intensive environment.
The Glass Bags mark a new era for Beepy Bella, as it differs from the brand’s previous releases. What was it like to explore new avenues of Beepy Bella with this release?
Beepy Bella is an ever-evolving revolving door of art projects. That is what makes this company special. it’s not about the products, it’s about the process and exploration of a creative avenue that is both boundless and yet rooted in its DNA structure from my love of nature and the unknown. Fantasy. That’s what Beepy is all about.
As I continue to build the brand, my main goal is to continue to challenge myself and keep my fine art practice very closely integrated into the design work we do. Some things might flop, some things will take off – but it doesn’t matter. What I care about is making an impact that feels genuine to what I originally set out to do, which is create a change in the very mundane and regimented industry of fashion design through natural explorations of the creative self.
In what ways do you feel that The Glass Bags set you apart from your peers in the space?
The glass bags are souvenirs from the process. They stand as finished objects, but in my mind, they are nothing more than an interesting relic to commemorate the exploration of glass work from an artist who wanted to push themselves into a new category. I think the bags set us apart because they are a one-of-a-kind commitment to hand crafted design. They aren’t perfect, but that’s what makes them unique. I am placing value on seeing the artist’s hand in the finished product again. Our customers understand that, and I am so grateful our community cherishes the handmade and artisanal crafts like I do.
It’s the same thing as loving mom and pop shops versus going to a big store. Sure, the big store has everything articulated perfectly to purchase items without thinking about cost, but, there’s something about the mom and pop shop that is irreplaceable. We need to start admiring the human touch in the things we buy again. That’s what Beepy is embodying.
Apart from your new statement accessory, what more should Beepy Bella customers expect from the brand in the future?
Always expect the unexpected. We are currently working on an entire line of merch, including puffer jackets, silk basketball shorts, one shoulder tanks and more. We are also making more handbags and just generally adventuring into new avenues of the Beepy brand, like scent and other household objects.
The world of Beepy is just beginning, and it’s a seed that we will be continuing to grow with all the water we can find.
