Maya Moon Bauer, maker of hand-crafted leather handbags coveted as wearable works of art, has been on a lifelong odyssey of self discovery and experimentation that continues today. After 20 years of crafting and selling custom leather goods in Central Oregon, online and in boutiques around the country, Maya Moon bags are easily spotted for their unique style, sophistication and a touch of whimsy.
From a tender age, Bauer’s family played an instrumental role in shaping her creativity and artistic ventures. Her artist parents enveloped her in the bohemian community of West Marin, California, where she went to high school. Growing up with a limited budget for school clothes, she improvised, finding and altering pieces found at thrift stores. “I was always playing around to mix things up and make them my own. I even used safety pins as a decorative way to taper my jeans,” she said, laughing at the memory.
“Maya was always chasing something outside the box,” recalled Katherine, “Kat” Doelger, a childhood friend. “She was always on the edge of what we were headed toward, trending wise.”
As a teen, Bauer was disenchanted with mainstream education and graduated high school through independent study. “I was anxious to have a job, make money and get out of West Marin,” she said. During the next 10 years, she explored a variety of jobs from making ceramic jewelry in Marin, working for a publishing company in Santa Barbara, to marketing for an import company in Richmond, California. In 1998, after a three-month European hiatus, she returned to Northern California and landed a job for a dot-com company where she met her future husband, Brian Buch.
“I wasn’t passionate about the work I was doing, ” she said. “I needed to do something different.” On her 28th birthday, Buch bought her a Viking sewing machine. “He understood I was going crazy and needed a creative outlet.”
Wearable Works of Art
On a work trip to New York, Bauer bought a snake-embossed turquoise leather tote that sparked her imagination. Unaware that her machine wasn’t designed for sewing leather and armed with limited knowledge, she persevered in crafting a pink faux crocodile tote that she took to work. Coworkers loved it, even starting a bidding war and sparking demand for more bags. “In a company of 80 people, I sold 80 bags.”
That early tote bore the hallmarks of a unique style that would become Maya Moon Designs: Leather hides sourced from around the world, contrasting piping, zippered pockets, panels from Pendleton blankets or furry pelts, metal studs and shotgun shells, and most iconic of all, the folkloric and Asian-themed fabric lining that provides “an element of surprise in every bag,” she said.
A Family Affair
In 2002, the couple wed and relocated to Bend. As a wedding gift, Bauer’s godparents gifted her an industrial Juki sewing machine. Working from a home studio, sales were from friends of friends, trunk shows, house parties and local boutiques. As time went on, her bags were in shops in Oregon, California, Utah, Ohio and Texas to name a few. As demand grew, no longer able to keep up, she outsourced production and hired a sales rep in LA. When the first shipment arrived, a box of identical bags, she knew it was a mistake. In pursuit of carving out a niche as an artist who handcrafts each piece, those “homogenized bags represented the polar opposite of Maya’s lifelong identity,” her friend, Doelger said.
In the end, it was her family who enabled her to build the business–her own way. Now the mother of two boys, Dean and Kaden, Bauer recruited her mother-in-law. Michele, to help with the boys while Brian traveled for work. Brian’s step mom, Nancy, sewed bags and Brian’s dad, Jan, set rivets and fashioned the shotgun shells used for tassels. As her sons grew, she would even recruit them to put rivets in straps when big orders came in.
By 2021, Maya Moon Designs transitioned from retail stores to a more one-on-one, personal shopping model to build her business. Today, with a studio in NorthWest Crossing, she works directly with clients by appointment to create custom handbags while also maintaining an inventory of both bags and accessories ranging in price from $20 to $496.
“With support from family, friends and clients, I’ve created a job that I’m passionate about that enables us to live in this beautiful community and constantly challenges me to come up with new designs. I can’t imagine doing anything else.” Whether it’s the personal touch or the affordability of her craftsmanship, Maya Moon Designs are from the spirit of an artist who continues to evolve and inspire. Learn more about Maya Moon Designs here.
