[Un]Discovers: Hard Graft

I fall in love with this brand when when my friend first shows this to me back in 2009. This brand is called Hard Graft and if you remember, I have talked about them back in November. Recently, I am honored to be able to send James, one of the founders of this group, some questions regarding this brand. Even though it is a short interview, you will get all the information you need from these questions!

Hi James, thanks so much for taking your time to answer our questions. Maybe our readers have not heard of the brand yet, do you mind telling us how did the British and Austrian design teams get together to form this brand?
Hard Graft was founded early 2008 by James and Monika, an English/Austrian Design Team with a background in fashion and Art Direction. Before they founded hard graft, both worked in high profile agencies and design & fashion studios in London, Berlin & Vienna.

This is such a great collaboration and I am loving every product your company has designed! Is there anything that makes the brand unique and other brands do not have?
We have a very strict brand juxtaposing 100% wool felt with premium leather to create all different kinds of debonair handmade lifestyle accessories currently focusing on laptop sleeves, bags, phone cases.

How did you come up with this wool felt and leather combination? Did you come up with another combination before this?
We have always been fascinated by felt and leather as they have such a long history attached. They are natural, sustainable and absolutely durable. It’s the feeling of these two materials juxtaposed which for hard graft is the perfect combination. Creating our products from them feels natural to us.

Our of all the products, I specifically have my eyes on the 2UNFOLD and the 3FOLD bags, what has inspired you to create these bags?
Our inspiration was to create more than just a bag that has already been done before. The bags had to have a strong idea but not be too technical in appearance. Multi-functional but high-end.

Will you be able to give a brief description on the 3 collection lines (Sporting, Base and New High)?
Our current range consists of only two colour schemes, one based on light grey felt with grey leather, the other with dark grey felt and brown leather. Both contrasting but fitting perfectly together when combined.

Last but not least, Are you currently working on any new products? If so, can we get a hint of what the company is brewing for us right now?
We're are constantly working on upcoming products and new ideas. If you join our Members Club we'll let you know first about new product releases ;o)

As a fan of Hard Graft, I am super excited to see what it has in store for us in the future. Once again, thank you so much to James for taking his time to answer my questions! If you want to purchase Hard Graft's products, make sure you check the official site here.