The founder of the recently launched tote bag and accessory brand Totemism talks about the travels that landed her in Hanoi creating precious items inspired by the life of a nomad.
Words by Sam Heaps ● Photos Thủy Tiên Nguyễn
Conjure up an Urban Nomad. Weathered, they have been frozen and thawed. They are unburdened, a shirt, trousers, shoes with thinning soles- but through the lightness of their few belongings they are swimming in the dust of a million different places.
“I have my purse, my keys, my phone, and that’s it. It’s very simple.”
Hungarian native and self-proclaimed Urban Nomad, Rita Trömböczky of Totemism has created an accessories line that markets itself to the aesthetic of the global citizen. A traveler must be discerning in their purchases, so Totemism provides functional and beautiful pieces created from fabrics and materials that Rita has gathered on her own travels, that are worth the weight of carrying throughout the world.
“I have customers in New York and London and Sydney- and it comes back to the idea that I’m everywhere and …I don’t feel the borders anymore. I feel like there’s no borders in life.”
Rita is staying in a majestic house near Hoan Kiem. The windows are tossed open and there is low jazz playing on the table from the midst of scarves, bags, and loose panels of fabric, buffalo horns, bones, beads and wood. The table is a menagerie of precious items. Rita is silhouetted in a simple black top and bottom she later reveals to have designed and sewn herself.
Rita formed Totemism in Thailand, continued to gather materials in Budapest, San Francisco, Hanoi, and hopes to continue her line in London and Milan. The name Totemism draws in part from the power of objects- or talismans that Rita believes objects can become, and in part from the largest component of her line: Totebags.
“I just do tote bags. Strictly. Because tote bags are usually advertisement pages or just graphics. But I want to make this a luxury item. I never use graphics or printed symbols. For me that sounds like something cheap and something you get from a company. So these started to be one of my personal items. It’s really simple but you really need it.”
A small, beautiful object can take on greater meaning when it is cherished, becoming, in essence, a talisman itself.
Many of her bags include unique toggles that are often inspired by her customers. Rita would like to be able to create specialized pieces for her customers, but also recognizes the impossibility of that task as her line grows.
Still she continues to keep a level of the personal in everything she creates. Consider the seemingly innocuous pocket square—another feature in her line. Hand stitched by Rita herself, each square becomes unique. She believes that a small, beautiful object can take on greater meaning when it is cherished, becoming, in essence, a talisman itself. “I believe that you connect with your objects. For example, if you think about this it’s just a piece of cloth- it’s a pocket square. But then if you think about the context, it’s handmade, it’s leather, then it becomes an item you can give to your son or something and this pocket square becomes a precious item.”
To add to their distinctness, each item bears a small leather square in the corner embedded with a moon or a tooth- Totemism’s logos. These logos are close to Rita, emblems of significant things that remain with us through life. While we measure the days through the comforting and ceaseless cycle of the moon, our teeth represent something we have for the entirety of our own personal life cycle, from birth to death. Both shift, change, and grow with us.
Rita is looking forward to the future of her totems: “The next step will be the website, and then putting it into the shops. I will find the right places for the items where people will appreciate them.”
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For now you can complete your wandering ensemble by contacting Rita via her Facebook page, Instagram, or Email. She currently has scarves, pocket squares, totebags, pouches, and is branching into jewelry.
