Sarah Donegan, our latest Business Person of the Month
Sarah Donegan has been called a number of names, from baglady to green goddess, but both these two are quite appropriate.
Baglady because she makes bags for a living and green goddess because she tends to use materials which would normally be throw away.
Sarah, who works in Old Town is our Business Person Of The Month.
The title is is sponsored by Swindon's Marriott Hotel.
Sarah set up her business three years ago and, with a background in fashion, she was ideally placed.
"I have a love for all things vintage and am a bit of a magpie, so I had a huge collection of textiles which I had picked up over the years," she said.
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"I knew I had to do something with them and juggled with a few ideas until I came up with the handbag idea."
Sarah, 44, is married with two boys, Albert, 13, and Earl, five.
She was born in Swindon but at the age of four her family moved abroad and she did not return to the town until 1978.
"My early education began in a British school in Iran followed by nine years at boarding school in Abingdon,' she said.
"I left school at 16 and studied Art Foundation at Swindon College and then went on to Middlesex University to study fashion.
"I went on to design women's wear for commercial companies, both here in the UK and Australia where I lived for five years.
"I returned to England and started a family and thoughts of going back into the industry and working for someone full-time again was just not where I wanted to be. I decided it was time to do my own thing.
"I find it hard at times running a home and a business from that home, so to speak.
"I hope to have a loft conversion done some time in the future to free up enough space for a work studio."
Most of Sarah's bags are made by herself unless she has a large order and uses a local soft furnishing seamstress.
"I am also building up my portfolio as a website designer - www. sarahlawson. co. uk - so I should be well qualified by now to give it all up and become a juggler.
"I'm not sure quite where any influences for my bags come from.
"I think designers are like sponges and absorb every bit of colour, culture, music, atmosphere, whatever it may be, surrounding them and translate it into their work."
As a monthly winner Sarah will go through to the final of the Business Person Of The Year which will be judged next January.
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