The Artist’s Story
Every artist has a story. Andrea’s story takes place in New York City’s East Village. It starts the day she meets Marla.
Actually, it starts before that. Andrea and Marla’s paths crossed many times previously, but only with a quick glance or uncomfortable yet familiar stare. The sightings increase when Andrea finds herself overwhelmingly inspired by a Warhol collaboration exhibit and starts to paint. Days go by, and she can’t stop painting. She fills blank canvases with color, stories, and energy. Marla begins to whisper.
Andrea’s day job and life in New York temporarily silences Marla’s voice. But like any addiction, abstinence only makes the cravings intensify. After work, Marla creeps in again and Andrea paints. Andrea loses all sense of time and space when she works and Marla won’t stop – she is relentless.
Then, Andrea is walking in the Garment District and sees a hand-snap press in a store window. She grabs it, runs home, rips a stretched canvas off its frame, and begins to cut. Marla is screaming. Andrea folds the canvas in half, snaps the sides together, and suddenly, Marla is silent.
This is the precise moment that Andrea lets Marla in – the insatiable and relentless pursuit of fashion and art coming together through creative and functional perfection. With the first transformation from painting to bag, Marla is free, and Andrea can live her story.
Who is Marla?
Everyone has a story. And everyone has a Marla. Marla Cielo’s story begins in 2008. She was born from real experiences and endless imagination at the exact place where art and fashion meet. Marla is not one, but many, a collective subconscious. She is a feeling, an aura, a passion. She is an empowered urbanite inspired by autonomy, truth, and creativity. Marla is the dreamer and the dream, the woman and her story. Brought to life by artist Andrea Tobin, Marla is not a bag – she’s a way of life.
In her own words, this is Marla…
I am Marla.
The reason you get up in the morning and the inspiration that drives you through the day.
Your best night out and your first kiss.
By your side always, your most loyal friend.
The extinction of fear and the permanence of creativity.
I AM DEFINITELY NOT A POCKETBOOK.
I am love, impulse, your safe haven.
Clutch me when you’re scared and rub me for good luck.
I am one of a kind and I smell like luxury.
I am Industrious, I don’t get dirty.
I am art and I am fashion.
I am not a trend; I’m a way of life.
I am not a bag – I am Marla.
Who is your Marla?
The Process of Creating a Marla Bag
Every Marla bag has a story. A perfectly unique, unpredictable, and timeless story
1) Limitless Possibility – she’s a blank white canvas, 60 inches tall by 6 yards wide
2) The Idea – every square centimeter of canvas is filled with paint and color and texture and design
3) Safety – she lies patiently to dry and is basted with a durable film to protect her from the elements
4) Leaving Home – she’s rolled up, packed up, and walked over the New York City’s Garment District
5) 29th & 7th – she’s unrolled again, stripped into 4-inch canvas strips and backed with luxurious, soft suede
6) Chop, Chop – she’s cut into ½-inch strips sectioned into warp and weft
7) Ready Or Not – she’s placed on the loom and woven into one, big textile blanket
8) No Looking Back – she’s taped up, marked up, and cut up into pattern pieces
9) Final Touches – she’s sewn together and paired with her favorite gunmetal hardware
10) At last – she is Marla.
