Standing proud in the Distillery District’s main cobblestoned thoroughfare, Hoi Bo is the first stand-alone retail shop for designer Sarra Tang. We first came in contact with the line after spotting one of her beautifully crafted bags at Mjölk, the Junction shop known around town for its discerning design eye.
Slowly gaining a following through careful exposure of her pieces, Tang felt it was time to open up a retail space of her own—it was only natural to stay put in the district’s artisanal environs.
“I’m completely self-taught,” reveals Tang, whose instantly recognizable bags are cut from either beeswax-finished canvas or leather (primarily lamb, kangaroo and cow). Handmade by a team of three, standouts include a washed and waxed lambskin purse in cognac brown ($360) and a wet wax pocket book with a wrap-around strap ($360). A canvas carryall features a notched leather shoulder strap in addition to leather handles, and, like the other canvas bags, will obtain an aged patina as the beeswax changes with wear ($580). Tang’s attention to detail is found every step of the way: leather zipper pulls are wrapped in waxed linen cord; careful pleats add to the landscape of a bag; handles are cut just-so and hand-finished to ensure they lie flat against the body of the purse.
“I don’t like handles sticking up,” Tang specifies.
Additionally, the wax-treated bags are all soil and water-resistant, an important detail for the upcoming Canadian winter.
Having expanded her line into more than just bags, goods now include printed Ts, jewellery, and belts alongside more luxurious picks, such as a washed crêpe de chine slip dress ($420). Eager to help customers suss out the perfect item, Tang is full of suggestions on how to accessorize (wrap a leather lariat around the back of a tunic) and alter (lengthen a bag strap to accommodate heavy winter coats) her pieces to obtain her simple and chic aesthetic.
Currently finishing up her fall line, a couple of prototypes are on display: a supple leather tunic and a hefty necklace starring ropes of leather. Still working out the kinks, Tang notes that they won’t be finished until they’re easy to wear. “People want to just throw things on and go,” she says.
Until then, we’ll be waiting.
Hoi Bo, 15 Trinity St., 647-852-5488, available at Rac Boutique, A2Zane and Mjölk.
