Artisan Wendy Stevens of Pikeville is a sheet metal fabricator. Her specialty is handbags – metal handbags. She will be featured in the upcoming season of the television series “Handcrafted America” premiering on Aug. 11.
Stevens designs and fabricates metal handbags by using stainless steel with leather and other metal components. While metal handbags may be a new concept for some, she came up with the idea about 30 years ago and has been narrowing in on it ever since.
“The first ten years were very experimental for sure, working other jobs while trying to figure out what I was doing. I kind of made it up.”
She was living in New York City at the time, it was the early 1980s, and she said it served as a highly artistic setting for her to figure out who she was and what she wanted to do.
“I sort of built the whole thing intuitively; I didn’t really have a master plan to make metal handbags. I just started experimenting with industrial scrap metal that was available on Canal Street for nothing.”
Stevens said those scraps were the same metals used in the subway cards and telephone booths of New York City.
“I just started noticing metal around me and sourcing it.” She added how she has a background in bilingual education, and said “As a teacher you learn how to source things. That’s kind of where it started.”
The idea of the metal handbag came while she was working at a nightclub.
“Women were always carrying these huge bags and we had to put them behind our bar. All they really needed was a durable wallet they could wear with their ID, money and lipstick – whatever.”
That’s where the idea of the “wearable wallet” originated.
“I experimented making a lot of things out of sheet metal, but after 32 years, I’m just really focused on the handbags.”
Originally from Ohio, Stevens has lived in Pikeville with her family for the past 20 years. Having just completed filming for Handcrafted America in June, she said she’s never done anything for television before.
“The crew was amazing; they were so great to work with. I really enjoyed myself,” said Stevens. “They have such a sincere interest in what I was doing. I think the setting here was fun for them.”
She creates the handbags out of a facility located on her property.
“Her purses are amazing, so unique!” said Jill Wagner, host of Handcrafted America. “I love that I can compare her work in the 80’s to her current designs and they are both in style. She really creates such interesting pieces that are so functional as well as beautiful. I was inspired by her ability to work with metal and make it do what people said couldn’t be done”.
Wagner said one of the things she loves about her job is exploring the country and meeting the local artists.
“The artisans are my favorite part of Handcrafted America . I always connect with them on some level and learn so much in the process. I admire their passion to create with their hands so much that they have inspired me and my husband to take a woodworking class in Knoxville, Tenn.”
Stevens says she goal of her work is durability, and one of the most rewarding aspects is when she sees a piece come back, for an addition or something like that, and she sees how well it has been used and taken care of. Her work is locally available at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The episode of Handcrafted America featuring Wendy Stevens will air on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. EST on INSP.
