About

About Iwona Ash

Iwona Ash in her Venice Beach studio

Iwona Ash is a designer from Kraków, Poland. She makes leather handbags, belts and linen clothing in her studio on Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach, California.

In Kraków she designed and styled projects for film and photography, worked in radio, TV and newspapers, and was Art Director of the International Design Festival “Design Attack”, curating exhibitions for museums and galleries. After moving to Los Angeles she worked in film distribution, but she never stopped designing, and founded Iwona Ash Design LLC. She studied Art & Design, holds a master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology, and did post-graduate studies in Art Curating.

That mix of visual storytelling still shapes every piece: strong shapes, bold colour and natural hides, made to be noticed and carried for years.

Every bag is cut and hand-stitched by leathercraft artisans in the USA, in sheepskin, lambskin, deerskin and hair-on cowhide. Because natural hides vary, each bag has its own markings, so no two are exactly alike.

At a glance

  • Handmade leather handbags, belts, wallets, glasses cases and linen clothing
  • Every bag hand-stitched by leathercraft artisans in the USA
  • Studio and shop: Gingerbread Court, 517 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 11, Venice, CA 90291
  • Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm, and by appointment
  • Free US shipping on orders over $100
  • Featured in Bold Journey, Canvas Rebel, Shoutout Arizona and Voyage Phoenix
  • Named a 2025 top 3 clothing store in Venice, CA

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How it started

Your bag tells more about you than anything else! It says what you do, where you are going, what your taste is like, about your financial situation, your mood, your character, and your lifestyle. You can hide in your bag, but you cannot hide your bag from the world. It is out there!
For some reason, I had trouble finding the right bag for me; that’s why I started to design and make bags for myself. With time my project has expanded to making bags for my friends. Thanks to them, I could think and develop bags for special needs and taste and test them. Along the way, I have learned a lot about myself and my preferences. I tend to love leather, but being a vegetarian myself, I had a moral issue with using leather.

Iwona Ash handbag

So, I started researching what kind of leather I could use for my work without harming animals and what I found entirely changed my perspective on leather. Once an animal has already been killed to produce food, its skin is merely a waste product that would be thrown away and wasted. By using it, we are using the whole animal and not wasting this important resource. My moral issue was resolved, but myths about leather are strongly rooted in our culture, and that is why I seek to clarify this misconception. If anyone calls you Cruella de Vil because of your leather purse, now you know the truth about how I source my leather!

To consolidate beauty and utility into an everyday essential item, blend ingenuity with style to create an elegant product without relinquishing any practical value. Although these purses are built for the modern world, they are artisanally crafted with timeless design. At Iwona Ash, we’re driven by our dedication to offering superior, personalized service. As a result, we smile with pride every time someone walks into our store excited about the great selection and walks out satisfied. It means we’ve done our job right. Ever since we had founded our store in 2018, we had one goal in mind: ensuring a permanent variety of fantastic items along with unique limited edition and seasonal merchandise that fit any budget. Get in touch with us to learn more about our store, or set up an appointment and come on over and say hi in person!