“ I travel extensively to different retail fairs to source the best of the best of the best and I really only sell the best .” a degree in fashion at Manchester Metropolitan University and after a successful graduate fashion show in London ( her work was praised for its commercial potential by Vogue ), Tytti went to Amsterdam with her partner and started making handbags .
“ To move up to making clothes would have been a huge investment . So ... bags were kind of an easier option because one size fits all ,” she explains . Business was going well . Her leather bags , priced at £ 650 and taking forty hours to make , were popular , so much so that she had a six month waiting list .
But the labour and material costs meant Tytti was not making any money . When she moved to Aberdeen with her partner , who was pursuing a new job in oil and gas , the popularity of her bags brought a problem : “ I became a victim of my own success . I went over the VAT limit which meant that I had to VAT register ,” she says . Twenty percent from each bag , already not making Tytti a return , would have to go to the government . “ Labour of love is fine . But when you take the love away , you ’ re only left with labour ,” she explains .
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