Why a Swedish Restaurant Owner Started Making Handbags | Markus Richtmann & Emily Blumenthal
Handbag Designer 101: The Stories Behind Handbag Designers, Brands, and Industry Icons
Markus Richtmann, a Swedish restaurant owner from Skellefteå, shares how his passion for craftsmanship led him to create Atelier Richtmann,
Key takeaways
- You don't need a fashion background—curiosity, craftsmanship, and personal passion can launch a successful brand.
- True brand identity comes from staying authentic and knowing when to say no to distractions.
Main topics
- Origin story of Atelier Richtmann
- Transition from restaurant owner to handbag designer
Notable quotes
"For me, it's more of art. I could instead of making bags, maybe paint, do paintings. But for me, instead of paintings, I like to make beautiful bags."
Conclusion
Markus Richtmann's journey from restaurant owner to founder of Atelier Richtmann
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) But for me, it's so important, the look of the bag. For me, it's more of art, of an art. I could, instead of making bags, maybe paint, do paintings. But for me, instead of paintings, I like to make beautiful bags. For me, I get so happy when I can see a bag and I feel, oh, it's perfect. Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, handbag industry expert and the handbag fairy godmother. Each week, we uncover the stories behind the handbags we love from the iconic brands and top designers to the creativity, craftsmanship, and culture that define the handbag world. Whether you're a designer, collector, or simply passionate about handbags, this is your front row seat to it all. Speaker 1 (1:00) Welcome, Markus Ristman of Atelier Ristman, made in Sweden, to Handbag Designer 101, the podcast. Your brand is going to be part of New York Now, of It Bagged, ex-New York Now. This might run after the show. I believe it might. But we are so excited to have you here. Welcome, Markus. Thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here. This is your first trade show, right? Yeah, I have done more in Sweden, a couple of small ones I've been at, but I thought this would be fun to go to the United States and meet everyone there and see how the industry works over there. Are you going with your wife or you're coming alone? I'm taking my friend with me. So yeah, yeah, yeah. But my wife, she wasn't that. She started working then and it's... Speaker 1 (1:58) time we don't have that much time but I turned 50 a couple of months ago so this is I'm gonna stay a couple of more nights I have like a 50 year old 50 year party weekend that's amazing oh my god this is so exciting so this is this is a trip this is like a whole monumental trip for you to release your brands, release yourself into the wild. Yeah, exactly. That's so exciting. So we had spoken once before. I just, I can't speak enough about how special and pretty your bags are. You are not a handbag designer by trade. You have a restaurant? Yeah. This is the funniest story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It started when I didn't have enough projects going on in my life, I thought. So I was going to make some holsters. I hunt quite a lot. I have hunting dogs and just to have a nice hobby. So I started to design some hunting gear. Speaker 1 (3:19) And I thought it was so fun. I mean, it was something different because I have had restaurants for 25 years. What kind of restaurants? Now I have like a brew pub. Yeah, a brew pub. We brew beer and make like a gastropub. A little bit better food than ordinary pub food. And is this in Stockholm or outside Stockholm? I live in North Sweden. It's eight hours with the car to Stockholm. Oh, forget Stockholm. So what's the city you're in? So anybody listening? What's it called? Skellefteå. Skellefteå. Yeah. Wow, so you're like in the north-north, so you see the northern lights and you see all that, right? Yes, yes, yes. A lot of nature and it's beautiful up here. It'll be too far away, you know. You can't like, oh, let's go there and there. You need to plan a lot, but it's a very small city. In the whole area, I think it's 70,000 people. Speaker 1 (4:33) And in the Skellefteå town, it's around 35,000 to 40,000. So it's a very small town. How did you end up opening up a restaurant coming from being in such a small town? Was that your goal? I mean, it was when I started in the restaurant business. I didn't find any good place to work. It didn't feel right to do that type of food. So when I was 25 years old, I said, it's time. I will try this. I mean, I'm not afraid of anything. So then I started my first restaurant, had that for five years and sold that one and started a catering business. with some friends and that I had for maybe 10 years I also had a I was part owner in a hotel in Klimtjäl up north you know like a ski resort hotel and then was it yeah it's exactly 10 years ago we said me and my colleagues let's do a final thing so we started a new place Speaker 1 (5:49) Quite big place. It was like, what do you call that? We had a piece of the restaurant was a store where you could buy cheese, ham. Right, right, right. Olives, olives and stuff. And we had a part that was fine dining. Right. And had a small part that was like the brew pub thing. Right. But then the pandemic came. And that was that. Yeah, yeah. We changed directions. And that was good. So we survived. And yeah, it's a nice business. It's fun. It's creative. And I think that's why I always love cooking. It's very creative. Wow. But you're someone who obviously is handy and not afraid of working with your hands. I love it. So how did this come to... You know, it's funny because I'm writing a book about the history of the handbag. Speaker 1 (6:47) And I think it's Gucci. I'm pretty sure I have to go back and check. I'm 99% sure it's Gucci that