Photography: Jason Hawke
Model: Tess Barnhart
Direction Olivia Gianettino
Special thanks to Mal’s Fresh Produce in Morgantown, WV
Beth Keener-Flanery spends most days on her family farm in Taylor County, WV designing or hand constructing her artisan purses and clutches. Throughout her 30-year career, Beth has taken on the task of turning the forgotten beautiful again. Incorporating everyday objects like fruit mesh bags, dusty grandma brooches or abandoned tapestries, Beth creates avant-garde, often-painted, one of one bags of all different sizes. Working on her farm also gives Beth access to natural materials; using found deer sheds and other animal bones, she aims to honor every part of the animal when it dies.
“Growing up with not very much money, we were doing that long before people were talking about sustainability,” Beth explained. “I come from farm people and coal mining people and we were raised to be that way.”
After receiving an artist’s grant earlier this year, Beth was able to bring her work to Flying Solo, a platform for independent fashion designers to sell their work. With this opportunity, Beth was able to sell her collection in storefronts across New York, and online to customers around the globe, without ever having to leave home. Luxury fashion coming out of rural communities is a rarity, especially when pitted against the surplus of resources available in urban centers like NYC — but that was the thing Beth said folks resonated with most about her work. Customers were and are buying her bags because of her background, not in spite of it.
“Even though I was in the big city, I remained true to who I am,” she said. “My bags did really, really well because the women in the store were telling my story and showing my little card explaining that I make each of these in a tiny studio in the hills of West Virginia.”
Find more of Beth’s artisan bags online at bethkeener.com
