Adriane Errera - Lucky Girl Handbags

Cruising the website for Adriane Errera's Lucky Girl Handbags is a little like walking down a boardwalk during military R&R. Young recruits should be spilling out of tattoo shops, sore from their first "I [Heart] Mom" tattoo. There's the pirate girl and nautical star wallets, panther bags, and leather belts.

Errera, from Long Island, has lived in Long Beach, CA, for the last six years. She works out of a shop in her backyard making very small runs of layered leather goods that include handbags, bands, and wallets. Although her work uses "a lot of tattoo flash" as of late, it's leaning more toward the feminine. "I'm trying to get away from all the young stuff and do more adult designs," she explains. Lately she's been exploring Asian imagery, including a "geisha ghost" and koi fish. She's also collaborating with other artists. Jim McLeod, a former tattoo artist who lost his eyesight but is still painting, created the geisha ghost girl while Erik McLeod designed the koi fish.

"I'm also getting more interested in using recycled and repurposed leather. I'm doing the '70s patchwork thing in a more modern, edgy way. The way I work is still primitive. I screen print the image in black and then hand-paint the art before it's sewn down like an appliqué," she explains.

Errera has managed to bridge her early harderliving single days with a more domestic lifestyle of marriage and motherhood, but getting tattooed is still important to her. Brad Schneider, of 454 Tattoo in Encinitas, CA, is working on a large piece that's similar in style to her new direction in fashion. "I have some Japanese flowers with flames and pin striping, and a tiger with peonies around it." And her work? "It's getting more sophisticated, but there's still a child-like whimsical twist to everything."