In an ever-changing fashion industry, it's no mean feat to reach the 10-year milestone, especially for a small, women-led business. So it's impressive, to say the least, that Beste and Merve Manastir, the stylish sisters behind Turkish handbag label Manu Atelier, favoured by celebrities, royals and influencers alike, are marking their 10th Anniversary this year.
To celebrate, they're relaunching their first-ever bag, the iconic Pristine, and have a few more things up their sleeves. I sat down with them to find out more.
You launched Manu Atelier almost a decade ago. How is it different now from what it was at the beginning?
Everything is more fast paced, and trends driven nowadays. The problem with trends is that they do change quite quickly, and following trends is not sustainable. We believe in quality over quantity and we like to design timeless pieces that will have longevity.
In a world used to immediate and instant, we want to maintain our level of craftsmanship with higher demand—but it’s hard to keep up with the expected shorter delivery frames. We think that the consumer understands that for a qualitative and timeless product, it’s understandable to wait longer. It’s also hard to sustain that level of meticulous practice and finding skilled and passionate people is getting more difficult. It takes a lot of time and patience to train people. It’s important to make sure to pass on to the next generation that ‘savoir-faire’.
If you had to narrow down Manu's history in a handful of pivotal moments, what would they be?
There was the pivotal role of our brand’s sales agent at the time, who was among the first to believe in the quality of the product after coming across the original Pristine bag.
Jointly with the brand’s communication on Instagram and with a little help from Eva Chen (who wore the Pristine bag), the label quickly garnered the attention of big local retailer Vakko—still one of Manu Atelier’s biggest accounts—and international stores such as Selfridges and Harrods.
Another important moment for us was when the Princess of Wales wore our Pristine bag. It was an important moment that increased brand awareness globally as we started as a small workshop in Istanbul, and with our father as the master craftsman behind our designs, we are really emotionally attached to what we do. It's also amazing to see that the Princess of Wales is continuing to wear it, such an amazing feeling to know that even after 3 years she still loves it. It’s also such a strong message in terms of sustainability and conscious fashion, one of our most important brand pillar is to create timeless pieces that will last.
And lastly when our Pristine bag was part of the V&A Museum exhibition 'About the Bags: Inside Out' as one of the cult designs from the contemporary era new to very significant handbag designs of the last 300 years.
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
Of course, we have faced many challenges, the main one being to stay relevant and stick to your values no matter what. The more global you get the more challenges you face, especially to stay true to your brand’s essence whilst adapting your core messaging and offer to different cultures.
You relaunched an iconic bag, the Pristine, to celebrate. Any other favourite styles from across the years?
The Pristine being our first design will always hold a special part in our hearts, but we also love our Cylinder: we loved creating that unique and at the time unexpected shape. We are also particularly pleased with our latest design, the Tote du Jour, its elegant lines embrace a timeless and minimalistic aesthetic that we love.
What's next for the label?
Celebrating our upcoming 10-year anniversary in style. We are thinking of expanding into different categories. And to celebrate our milestone this year we are also loving the idea of maybe opening a pop-up in Paris and finally getting to meet our French customers face to face.
Do you have any advice for female entrepreneurs wanting to launch their own brands?
No matter what, to continue believing in yourself and your passion. Follow your intuition and try to surround yourselves with people that you admire. Throughout our journey it’s been very important for us to surround ourselves with like-minded women and to support each other. In our choice of models, influencers, but also photographers, stylists we wanted to partner with people that share similar values in order to create meaningful designs and imagery that reflect our brand’s essence.
