Lisa Cutler, purse designer and owner of Lisa C Purses, visited Chattanooga for the first time three years ago to display and sell her handmade purses at the 4 Bridges Arts Festival.
“I was impressed that everyone was excited about the city and happy to be living here,” she says. “That was enticing to me.” While here, Lisa drove all around the city and immediately noticed the blending of different kinds of neighborhoods.
Upon returning home to Omaha, Nebraska, Lisa realized that, in contrast to Chattanooga, she lived in an area where people didn’t know their neighbors well. They might know neighbors’ names, but she didn’t feel a strong sense of community. She and her husband Josh wanted to be involved in a community and help make lasting change in a place. They were ready for a new challenge; they were ready for Chattanooga.
In considering Chattanooga as a place to make their home, the Cutlers were impressed by the city’s focus on the arts. The economic incentives that were established to help bring artists to Chattanooga’s downtown struck a chord with her. The opportunity to share in revitalizing struggling urban neighborhoods held great appeal for them.
With the assistance of CreateHere and an ArtsMove grant, the Cutlers were able to move to the Fort Negley community in Chattanooga.
“Chattanooga is such an inclusive community,” she says. “One can live anywhere in the area and be part of the arts community. Artists have moved here from all over the country. I live near storytellers, painters, sculptors, glass artists, people new in their careers, and those approaching retirement. I feel that I am not only a part of the Southside, but an important element of greater Chattanooga, as well.”
Lisa’s designs, as well as her business, have come a long way. Her purse designing career began when she was 12 years old. Her mother owned a business making tennis clothes, so Lisa would sew purses all weekend alongside her mother on a second sewing machine.
A budding entrepreneur, Lisa sold a homemade purse to every girl in her sixth-grade class. She laughs while recalling that as a novice seamstress, her original purses had no structure. They were cute, but flimsy, closed like an envelope, and were worn slung over the shoulder and across the body. Each purse sported an outside pocket and closed with a piece of Velcro. Her mom disliked the pattern, but Lisa persevered.
Lisa carried fabrics around with her so her friends could choose from an array of bright colors. The quality was not nearly as high as the rigid standard to which she designs her purses today, but her young friends never complained about purses sporting rickrack trim or navy blue fabric with gray mice designs.
Today, Lisa designs purses of pure excellence. Each well-tailored bag is made of high-quality sturdy fabric that allows each purse to stand upright on its own.
For Lisa, the inside of each purse is just as important as the outside. Each Lisa C Purse is lined with beautiful fabric. She says that when she first learned to sew, she felt that a well-made garment should be able to be turned inside out and still look finished.
Bungee cord handles allow for a perfect grip. “There are few options for handles in handmade purses,” she says. “This utilitarian, masculine cable works beautifully with a feminine item.”
Lisa’s artistic road was not without its bumps. She stopped designing purses for a short time after graduating from college. Working what she recalls as a “boring desk job,” she was eager to do more with her days. Eventually, she began making purses again on the side with her mom.
By the end of 2005, Lisa realized that she either needed to create purses full-time or not at all. She quit her job and began selling her purses in small art shows. She soon realized that she needed to participate in about two dozen shows a year, including many weekends away from home. While she yearned to design purses, she also wanted to be home and part of a vibrant community.
Three short years after she first set foot in Chattanooga, Lisa has become an established part of what she terms a “pampered artist community.”
Since moving to Chattanooga, she participates in 10 art shows a year. While she loves designing purses, she says she doesn’t want to be on the road all the time. She would rather be out in her neighborhood planting trees and visiting with neighbors, and biking or walking most places. She and her husband Josh, who works at UTC’s College of Business, would rather be right here in Chattanooga, helping to build a deeper community for us all.
At this time, Lisa only sells her purses in art shows. Anyone interested in purchasing one of her unique purses can e-mail her at lisacpurses@yahoo.com.