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From a small Ohio town to Florence, Italy, the story of a woman who refused to give up on her hands, her craft, or her country.
Junie Collins, now 68, grew up in a fading manufacturing town in southern Ohio, the kind of place where factories closed, hope dimmed, and families scattered.
Her mother battled alcoholism. Her father worked double shifts just to keep the lights on.
“Everyone said the town was dying,” Junie recalls. “I didn’t want to die with it.”
At 23, after years of waitressing and saving every tip, Junie bought a one-way ticket to Florence, Italy, determined to master the old-world craft of leatherwork.
She swept workshop floors, scrubbed dye off her hands, and watched quietly as Italian masters stitched bags so perfect they seemed alive.
“They didn’t just make things,” she says. “They built stories you could hold.”
After five long years, Junie returned home, with a secondhand sewing machine, a notebook full of sketches, and a belief that Middle America could roar back through the art of making.
Her first workshop wasn’t glamorous: just a garage in Dayton, a fan that barely worked, and a pile of worn-out leather.
Neighbors thought she’d lost her mind.
But one by one, people started stopping by, to watch, to buy, to remember what real craftsmanship looked like.
“I wanted every bag to feel like redemption,” Junie says. “Proof that something broken can still become beautiful.”
After 35 years of creation, Junie’s hanging up her apron for good.
Her final collection is a farewell, each bag a story, each stitch a memory.
For a limited time, she’s offering them up to 80% OFF as a thank-you to everyone who believed in her craft.
“This is the end of my story,” she says softly. “But maybe, it can be the start of someone else’s.”
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