Siberian-born Olga Dubovik likes connecting her work designing leather bags with the vision of other artists, specifically photographers. ‘I don’t want to commission them to do an advertising campaign. Quite the opposite. I give them carte blanche and let them bring their own point of view.’ She allows others to freely express themselves through her Lubochka bags, which are produced in a small workshop in Igualada, a town in central Catalonia where Dubovik went to live as a teenager.
Through social media Dubovik discovered the work of Aiala Hernando and Monling Lee, the first two photographers to whom she gave free rein. The results were spectacular. The first included Lubochka bags in disturbing still lifes. The second, in a universe full of dazzling colours. During a trip to Japan, Dubovik saw some photos in a magazine credited to Ina Jang. The designer fell in love with Jang’s delicately sophisticated style, and got in touch with her via Instagram. The young Korean photographer accepted the challenge.
Jang’s objective was to capture the sweeter side of Lubochka, with unexpected framing, pastel tones and a poetic surrealism. Perhaps it’s because the new bags – Dubovik reinterprets classic models from the line, producing them in various colours – don’t have any studs or metallic chains. What they all still do have is the characteristic tassel made with colourful leather strips.