Handmade in Northern Michigan - Natalie Brooke

Name: Natalie Brooke Gulyas    
Age: 30
Passion Project:  Manitou Bags
Current Location: Northern Michigan
Website: manitoubags.com (in progress)

You just had a pre-launch for your handmade line of bags, Manitou Bags.  

Can you tell us a little bit about this amazing line, and what makes these bags so special?

The idea for Manitou started with a desire to make lightweight leather handbags that were made out of high quality materials that also zipped close. I wanted to design pieces that were beautiful and transitional that you want to keep forever. My personal style is somewhat feminine and casual, I like to feel effortless and comfortable in my clothing and I wanted to design with that in mind. While I was living at home in Chicago I had a lengthy commute and I noticed by watching other women commute that there was a need for accessories, particularly bags that were attractively utilitarian. I often found myself wearing a nylon backpack most days that didn’t fit in well with my lifestyle or wardrobe and I wanted to wear something that reflected my taste. I also started to design with my sisters in mind, who are both creative professionals, one in San Francisco and one in Chicago, who travel a lot. They both have great personal style and are usually gone from home most of their day. I wanted to create pieces that they could wear to work and throughout the night after their workday but also pieces that looked feminine and effortless while traveling.

So, give us a little background.  

​How did  Manitou Bags get started?

More than several years ago I was interviewing for a job and the person interviewing me, who was a designer, asked me what I aspired to do in the future. Without hesitation I told her I wanted to design leather handbags. Truly, I don’t know where this response came from. My background up to that point had been in the music industry, but I had always been attracted to design - specifically accessories such as bags and boots. In my mind and in my heart I knew that in some capacity this idea was something I would pursue in the future but I felt I was waiting on a deeper inspiration to move forward. That inspiration came a few years later when I purchased an inexpensive crossbody bag from a discount bin before a trip to New York. It became my favorite bag because of it’s size and zipper closure. Though it was made very poorly I saw potential in its design and started to seek out manufacturers to design a prototype of my own version of the bag which was lighter and had less hardware. I wasn’t feeling that my vision for this simplistic design was being fully captured by the manufacturers and I decided that if I wanted to create well constructed samples I had the opportunity to learn from sewing them myself. In the past I had learned to sew, make patterns and tailor clothing mostly by trial and error and reading about simple techniques. I also subsequently restored an industrial sewing machine during this time, none of these things were easy but this learning period helped me to unknowingly develop the skills that I use now in the construction process. It truly has been many years in the making.

Not only are you a bag designer, but you are a musician, photographer, and at one point you were teaching pilates!  I think a lot of girls deal with the dilemma of having multiple passions.  

Can you tell us about how you manage pursuing multiple passions?

There is a false perception that you can only love one thing at a time. I’ve learned in time that that curiosity and a desire to learn is the depth of creativity. My parents mutually taught me that if someone is willing to teach you something that you should take the time to learn. This has brought out a side of me that is continually interested and has also helped me to take on jobs or practices that are really difficult or outside of my skillset.

My truest passion is music and I’ve spent most of my life writing songs and performing. I took up photography during a time when I was traveling and spending a lot of my life in recording studios and I started to document all of my young experiences in these beautiful, historic venues and studios as well as the musicians and people I was working with. I learned about photography through learning about music which lead me into a lot of different opportunities.

Time is precious in my life now and that’s where balancing my passions becomes difficult. Currently I have a handful of jobs that are both inside and outside of my skillset and more often than not I work twice in one day. I haven’t taken on any investors and Manitou has always been self financed. Some weeks I will work seven days a week and come home at night and work through the night. In that there is a great sense of accomplishment when I reach a business goal. On the other side, I also believe that songwriting has taught me the most about accomplishing the creative side of goals. Putting together an album or set for a show requires a lot of time and in my case a lot of time working alone. I also learned through playing music how to communicate a personal idea or vision and reach goals with other people. I learned through playing music to make working on my passions my top most priority and I’ve built personal processes that at times have caught a small amount of flack from friends when I would choose to stay in and work for days. Though in time no person has ever held my working hard at my passions against me when they saw how much I love what I was accomplishing. It is a choice and you have to choose your passions every morning when you wake up. You also have to imagine other work outside of your passions as something that productive and necessary to fuel the things that you love. When I have a full day and I get to sit down and work on a project that I am excited about I feel like it is even more of a privilege and I choose to see the perspective that my day has given me.

In time I have also become very interested in time management and productivity and that has helped me to relax my wild child side which naturally doesn’t like to schedule even a haircut. I think it’s also important to be creative with other people, to learn from them and to have conversations about ideas.

You made a move from Illinois to Michigan not too long ago.  

​Can you tell us about that decision, and how it has impacted your life?

Michigan and specifically Northern Michigan is my second home. Although I grew up outside of Chicago I spent all of my summers in Northern Michigan and have always felt this heart connection to Northern Michigan. I left Chicago in 2015, at the time I was working teaching Pilates and on the weekends I worked at Schuba’s which is a music venue in Chicago. I would often teach from five am into the afternoon, take a quick nap in the Green Room and cocktail through the evening. I spent a week in Northern Michigan over the Fourth of July that summer and during my last night I stayed up all night on the beach and for days afterwards I felt a great sense of peace and inspiration come over me that I had been missing. Though I had no intention of moving, at this time I had an important relationship ending in Chicago and as I meditated on my feelings I heard a strong response that was quite clear that urged me to return to Northern Michigan to create roots. Equally as important, this inner voice also told me to run with the bulls. And it was so pronounced that I moved everything out of my apartment that day.

Though I didn’t return to Michigan straight away, in fact the next month I had a small surgery and during my recovery I spent some time traveling all throughout the Southern states. I knew I wanted to start a business and I started collecting and researching materials while I was traveling when someone reached out to me about a great job opportunity in Northern Michigan and it felt like it was a pull to to return to Michigan and set up those roots.

In Michigan I’ve found such a community of creative people, it has been a perfect place to move forward building Manitou and gain inspiration as I do so. Everywhere you look here is beautiful and the people are truly kind and supportive. The definition of Manitou is a spiritual and fundamental life force that surrounds you. There is a great sense of this life force here in Northern Michigan within the Native American history and the natural depth of beauty here that is ever inspiring to me. Chicago is my home and am fortunate that Michigan is as well.

I think most people assume that when someone is successfully pursuing their passions, that life must just be coming easier for that person.  I know that is not true for you.  
​
Can you share about some of the struggles or heartaches that are behind your work?  

The last few years I have learned a tremendous amount about heartache and healing. I lost a lot of people and relationships in a very short period of time and my whole self was just empty. The difficult experiences just kept coming and I didn’t feel equipped to navigate all of the pain, grief and loss. It is known that when you make more than one big change such as moving to a new city, losing a family member or friend or start a new job all at one time life can become really difficult. Almost everything in my life changed all at once and it was coupled with surmountable death and loss and it was more than any person could endure alone. I was truly heartbroken.

I started to learn through those experiences that there is a process to healing. That actively moving through painful experiences and allowing them to unfold is essential in that process. I also learned that healing takes time, quite a lot of it in fact. This was a secondary concept to me until I lived through it. I also found that there is healing in everything and you do it every day, I had to allow people to help me experience this as things were hard and to ask for help. I had to be open to heal which took the most time but now I understand there is a pace to grief and loss that is very real.

There are always going to be obstacles and the absolute most important thing I learned through all of this recovery from loss is that you need to keep creating. That creativity and passionate work is a gift and a tool that helps you to heal and connect. The other thing that helped me the most was listening to other people’s and specifically other women’s stories. I learned that sometimes the best way to move through something is to learn from someone who has also been there. ​

What keeps you inspired and motivated each day?

I thrive on inspiration. It is easily the most important thing in my life besides love. Usually I begin my day by meditating, even before I eat breakfast. Creating these small rituals makes me very happy and feel like my day was well balanced. I usually couple my meditation with tea and after that oatmeal with blueberries nearly every morning. This has been my most recent daily ritual. My schedule is quite transitional which makes it very important for me to find time to be alone. Ideally, I would have a less varied schedule but the inconsistency sometimes brings out a lot of inspiration. Swimming in lake Michigan in the summer time is where I feel most inspired and healthy and if not swimming then spending time outside. Which I have a lot of access to here. Recently I also played a show with a bunch of other local musicians up at a beautiful permaculture farm near my home. It was inspiring to listen to their work and relax into that. Travel, even if it is a short day trip I find to be essential in feeling inspired. I try to be interested and open in the things I read and the conversations that I have.

Your main creative focuses have been photography, music, and Manitou Bags.  

Do you have a favorite?   

Manitou has become such a big passion project for me. I absolutely love designing and working to create new pieces. Something about design is also ever changing which I never tire of. I like traveling to find materials, textiles and hardware and I find it really fulfilling work. There is purpose in creating something utilitarian that becomes part of your daily life. It makes me excited to see someone pick up one of my bags, feel the material and see how it looks with what they are wearing. Photography is an accompaniment in every way to all that do and it will always be within any work I pursue because it is so much a part of life now. I feel I get to use that skill every day during every project. Music on the other hand is who I am, it is second nature to me and will always be my first love. I operate on an emotional level when I’m making music/singing and that is difficult to put a presence of occupation next to it. I always want to play more live music and I always want to design more beautiful things.

What encouragement or advice can you give to those who are still figuring out what their passion is, or who are trying to get the courage to pursue their passion more fully?

Don’t be afraid to work hard and to learn things that are outside of your skill set because you never know when those skills will serve your passions in the future. This will also lead you to new things and people as well and it will make you a more varied person. This past summer when I knew that I needed to buy a few expensive pieces of equipment to begin making samples at the level of quality that I thought was achievable I decided to accept every ounce of extra work that someone offered me to do so. I worked harder than I ever have and when I made the first sample that I wanted to wear every day I felt very accomplished. My advice is to work harder, and be joyful in your work. Also, ask for feedback and help when you need it. If you speak passionately about your own work other people will speak passionately about your work no matter your avenue is.

So, what does the future hold for you and Manitou Bags?

I have four bags that I want to perfect over time and am deciding on a timeframe to fully launch a limited quantity of those pieces. Right now I’m using materials that are made exclusively in the U.S, including Horween leathers from Chicago and UCAN Zippers in L.A. and I want to continue to build those relationships and produce within the United States. This makes the expense of construction a little bit more but the quality is there. I have plans to set up a studio space and a small showroom. I also want to eventually feature other non-leather materials and do some collaborative designing in the future. There is an endless creativity surrounding Manitou for me. During the time Manitou has been coming together I have been really focused on building the business and have truly put my heart into. In my personal life I want to travel more, spend more time with the people that I love and seek inspiration everywhere I go.

Thanks Nat!  

You can find out more about Manitou bags on Facebook, and be anticipating a website to come!

Curated by: Katie Simkins