The transformation from raw lumber to limber handbags did not come easy. It took the designers, Orli Tesler and Itamar Mendelovitch, years before finding a form that felt right. “It took such a long time to get the simple shape,” Tesler says. “In the beginning, we interfered terribly with the wood.” She had her partner experimented with weaving it, sanding it and breaking it up into small fibers. “Nothing seemed to showcase the wood in a new way.”