Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011

Designing history is her bag

Holly Aiken creates chic yet durable handbags, diaper bags and purses prized by the fashion maven, the on-the-go mom - and the N.C. Museum of History.

The N.C. State University graduate and downtown Raleigh businesswoman was flabbergasted when she got a call from the museum last year. It wanted to add two of her handbags to its permanent collection.

"I was just shocked - I never expected that," Aiken said. "I'm completely flattered."

Her handbags were two of 13 North Carolina-made products inducted into the museum collection at a ceremony in January, alongside a miniature millstone crafted in Wilkesboro, a snowboard made in Hudson and more.

One of the bags has a white bird in flight on a black background. The other is an abstract red and black design on gunmetal gray. Both are made of vinyl, unstainable and tough. They caught a museum curator's eye while on an expedition around the state on the "Manufacturing Makes it Real" tour organized by the N.C. State Industrial Extension Service last year.

RoAnn Bishop, curator of agriculture, industry and economic life at the museum, said the bags will provide future museumgoers a glimpse of what was stylish in the state during the first decades of the 21st century.

"When you put these objects from a certain time period on display, you're giving the museum visitor a peek back into a particular time period," Bishop said.

The bags are not currently on display or planned for any upcoming exhibits, Bishop said, but waiting in storage for just the right show.

They join a collection of about 150,000 artifacts, most of them at least 50 years old, Bishop said. Aiken is only 37, and her business wasn't founded until 2002.

"We believe in collecting early," Bishop said.

A graduate of Millbrook High School who got her degree from N.C. State's School of Design in 1997, Aiken got her first store location in Glenwood South nine years ago, then moved to her current location on East Hargett Street downtown.

She describes her wares as practical and affordable, with wide-ranging appeal. Business has been solid, and Aiken only expects it to improve as word spreads of her work's new status as historical artifact.

And the N.C. Museum of History isn't the only museum where Aiken's work will appear. Aiken's company recently scored a contract to create custom-made bags to be sold exclusively at the N.C. Museum of Art, Aiken said.