Katerina NYC

Founded by Kathy Karadza, our company designs and makes leather and fabric handbags and small accessories in New York City.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Creating with a love for making colorful, wearable art that makes others feel happy. A native New Yorker, Kathy grew up watching her father build, make, cut, create with wood, wires, paint, and power tools, and helped him with small tasks. She first started making handbags in her downtime while working backstage on Broadway shows. She used leftover fabrics and leather from costumes to learn how to make handbags. It started as a hobby, became a passion, and now a small business.

MADE IN NYC Each piece is made in New York City, and most are created from reclaimed luxury leather from prestigious fashion brands in Italy and the United States. We also use cactus leather from Mexico and materials sourced locally. Leather scraps from our handbag production are used to create small accessories for a minimal waste approach.

PAST WORK Kathy has worked on costumes and tailoring for Broadway productions including Disney’s The Lion King, Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera, Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular, and with world-renowned music artists at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY; in fashion, for shows of collections from Givenchy, Saint Laurent, and Emmanuel Ungaro; in sports, as the tailor to the players for the U.S. Open tennis tournament; and in costumes for film and television (Bull, Billions, New Amsterdam).