Behind the Scenes of SENREVE's Garden Party Colors

by / Aug 06, 2020

This summer, we are all about the colors of our garden.  From Lilac and Wisteria to Dandelion and Tangerine, we love the pops of color our handbags add to our day-to-day.  With such a wide color palette to choose from, we wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how our colors come together into one perfectly matched handbag!  


Handbags in Multiple Colors on ShelfSENREVE handbags on display at our Pacific Place Popup in Hong Kong

We set out to interview our Head of Production, Annie, and along the way, gathered insights from other members of the team too. Read on below to hear from Annie, Coral (CEO), Dani (Head of Product Development), and Kristin (Brand and Creative Director).

Color Swatches in FactoryComparing and color-matching different components of our colorful handbags

What’s the inspiration behind offering so many colors?  
Annie: “As a company we are so drawn to beautiful color, and we love to pair them with our silhouettes because the bag itself is beautiful.  We definitely strive to be a classic company, with bags that are companions for our customers’ daily lives.”


Edge Paint Table in FactoryTable used for edge paint at our Italy factory, taken during one of Annie's past trips

Coral: “Color is a huge criteria for why customers purchase and a critical differentiator for SENREVE.  Because of our relationship with our factory in Italy and our small batch manufacturing process, we are able to offer a wide range of different colors.”


Thread and People in Factory
CEO Coral Chung at our artisan factory in Italy

How does the SENREVE color development process start?
Annie:  “Everywhere we go we are always looking for color inspiration. Especially from nature and in our daily lives. As a team, we often send photos of flowers back and forth.”

Pink Handbag and FlowersCoda Belt Bag in Mimosa Fuchsia with flowers from Coral's garden

Coral: "We love saturated colors that are feminine, distinctive yet neutral, and can be worn all seasons. We’re also extremely customer-centric, so we’re always listening to what our community desires. In fact, our Aubergine color was originally a custom bag we created for a VIP client. The process is complex and requires many steps in working with our tanneries to perfect the color tone, evenness, finish, and texture of every material we use. It can take up to 6 months or even a year, like with our new 100% vegan materials."

Dani: “It can take three months or longer to get a new color right.  Since I’m on the ground in Italy working with our factory directly, Annie will send me a physical reference or swatch, which is then scanned at the tannery.  The color recipe gets coded and if we approve it, a lab dip is done. If after the first trial of a lab dip, we want the color to be different, such as warmer or with more contrast, we go into a second trial to get the color just right.”


Envelope sleeve and flowersEnvelope Sleeve in Pebbled Dandelion with hibiscus flowers grown by Dani 

SENREVE’s handbags are known for their versatility and the many different ways each piece can be worn.  How about the colors?

Annie: “We definitely value versatility here at SENREVE and love that what we offer is versatile, not only in the design silhouette but also color tone.

On most of our leathers and colors, there is a high and a low to our leather, meaning that in the pattern of the leather, there is both an undertone and overtone color. This adds a richness to the color and more visual depth. It also allows our leathers to look different in different lighting which plays really well into seasonality. Bags and colors can work throughout the year because of how the leather transforms to the lighting of a location.  

Pebbled Forest is a great example of this.  In bright lighting, it takes on an emerald tone and in darker lighting, it almost appears black.”


Woman with Green HandbagMini Maestra and Aria Belt Bag in Pebbled Forest

Ready to shop some of our colors? Kristin and Dani shared their personal insights and styling tips! Up first, our beautiful purple hues:  Mimosa Wisteria, Mimosa Lilac, Pebbled Lavender, and Pebbled Aubergine.

Mimosa Wisteria
“Wisteria is such a special and unique color. People are intimidated by it and think it is tough one to pull off because it’s such a white-based bright lavender. But it’s very visually pleasing to the eye and I love pairing it with white, denim, greys, and navy.”    - Kristin 

“Wisteria is very subtle, very feminine and elegant.” - Dani 


Purple Handbag with FlowersMini Maestra in Mimosa Wisteria


Woman with Purple HandbagMini Maestra in Mimosa Wisteria

Mimosa Lilac
“Lilac is the color for the person that is scared to wear purple but loves it. The SENREVE Lilac has so much grey in it, making it the most subtle of our purples and a very easy one to match.” -  Kristin


Purple and Pink HandbagsEnvelope Sleeve in Mimosa Lilac; Card Wallet and Crossbody Bag in Pebbled Blush


Woman and Purple HandbagMini Maestra in Mimosa Lilac

Pebbled Lavender
“Lavender has a more cool tone compared to our Lilac, which is a slightly warmer hue. However, they both have a nice high/low contrast to the leather texture making either color an elegant choice to pair with wardrobe staples.” -Kristin


Purple HandbagDoctor Bag in Pebbled Lavender


Woman with Purple HandbagDoctor Bag in Pebbled Lavender 

Pebbled Aubergine
“Everyone knows Aubergine is one of my favorite colors. I think it’s seasonless. It matches well with blacks, browns, navy, greys and khakis. It’s endless in my book. Aubergine is the perfect bag if you want a fun versatile color but afraid to get something too bright and want to keep it relatively safe.“ -Kristin


Purple HandbagMidi Maestra in Pebbled Aubergine

“Aubergine is my favorite purple tone. It is great because it is similar to Pebbled Merlot (a deep red color) but a little more playful.” - Dani


Backpack HandbagMaestra Bag in Pebbled Aubergine and Pebbled Merlot

Can’t decide on our gorgeous sunshine-inspired colors? Kristin and Dani weigh in!
Mimosa Chiffon
“It is so beautiful and such a unique shade of yellow. I think it's one of those eye catching colors that unexpectedly goes well with other colors. It’s bright but delicately complex and understated all at once.” - Kristin

“Chiffon is really beautiful because the Mimosa leather texture and print makes it stand out.” -Dani



Yellow HandbagsMidi Maestra, Mini Maestra, Crossbody Bag and Aria Belt Bag in Mimosa Chiffon


Woman and Yellow HandbagMini Maestra in Mimosa Chiffon

Mimosa Lemon
“Lemon has this neon cast to it that is edgy and cool, making it a really fun, stand out color choice.” - Kristin


Handbags on TableMidi Maestra in Dragon Chestnut, Mini Maestra in Pebbled Coral, Aria Belt Bag in Mimosa Lemon


Woman with Belt HandbagCoda Belt Bag in Mimosa Lemon

Pebbled Dandelion 
“Dandelion is the golden yellow of our yellow color family. People are always drawn to this shade and really love its richness.” -Kristin 


Yellow Laptop SleeveEnvelope Sleeve in Pebbled Dandelion


Woman and Yellow Crossbody
Crossbody Bag in Pebbled Dandelion


Any unexpected colors that you should definitely consider?
Mimosa Spearmint
“Spearmint doesn’t get enough love. It’s a really fun-loving color. A delightful blue with a hint of green.” -Kristin


Pale Green HandbagAria Belt Bag in Mimosa Spearmint


Woman with HandbagMidi Maestra in Mimosa Spearmint

Pebbled Tangerine
“I really love the tangerine. It looks really cute on the Mini, and it isn’t overplayed. It’s a really fun color if you want something to pop in your collection.” -Dani


Orange HandbagMini Maestra in Pebbled Tangerine


Orange HandbagAria Belt Bag in Pebbled Tangerine, via @sincerelyjules

Pebbled Ice 
“I love Ice.  The overall tone is blue, but you can grey it up or down.” -Dani

“People always gravitate towards Ice for a light blue that straddles grey. It’s a great neutral that isn’t the standard grey, black or brown.” -Kristin


Blue HandbagMini Maestra in Pebbled Ice


Woman with Blue HandbagMini Maestra in Pebbled Ice
 


We love a classic black bag as much as anything, but the pops of color that SENREVE offers make our daily lives so much more exciting.   We hope you loved hearing about how we dream up our colors and how each one is unique!

What color will your next bag be?  Share your favorite colors or what you have your eye on in the comments below!  We love talking about color with all of you!