the designer behind Tabby
A lifetime of making.
Theresa as spent decades working and teaching in fiber artistry.
The Founder
Theresa Brunson
Theresa has been a fiber artist for most of her adult life. Long before Tabby, she was the person in the room who noticed the weave, who could name the dye process, who understood that fabric carries memory.
Her background spans fashion design, fine craft, and textile education. She has taught, exhibited, and made things for decades—and all of that experience is present in every bag she produces. The details are not accidents.
She still makes every Tabby piece herself, in small batches, in Cincinati.
Where it Begins
The roots of the work.
Theresa has been sewing since she was a child—not as a hobby, but as a second language. The needle, the grain, the way a seam behaves: these were things she understood intuitively before she could articulate them.
Making things by hand was never a trend for her. It was simply the way objects should come into the world: considered, deliberate, shaped by a person who cared about the outcome.
What changed over time was not the commitment to craft, but the clarity about which materials deserved it most. West African textiles—their geometry, their process, their weight of tradition—answered that question.
Continue Exploring
See the work for yourself.
Browse the current collection, explore the signature U-Bags, or head directly to the Etsy shop to see what's available now.
