TANO handbags - going back in time

In 2006, the Tano bag website had a section called "Core." Here's an excerpt from the Core of the Tano Handbag company taken directly from the Tano website in 2006.

Tano's Modernist Roots

When Sebastian "Tano" Giner was just learning to crawl in the rural mountain village of Murla, Spain the Modernist era was exploding with creativity and excitement in world's big cites. The Modernists were turing the arts inside out...architecture, dance, literature, music, painting, and fashion. "Make it new," said Ezra Pound the great Modernist poet, and the artistic visionaries of the era followed his call.

The origins. Local basket makers gather outside the chalet of Sebastian "Tano" Giner. 1912.

One inspired visionary was Sebastian Giner, a scholar who paid his way through school as an artisan basket maker. By day he and a group of local villagers turned out handmade baskets made from cuttings of dried native grape vines. By night he studied the works of the modernists and economic theory of the industrial revolution. The region's farmers used his baskes to gather fruits and vegetables. The designs were well balanced, sturdy, proportional, a perfect meeting of form and function. They had to be. Sebastian was a demanding perfectionist. So much so that he earned himself the nickname "Tano" or perfectionist in the local catalan dialect.

Assembly table at Tano Iberica of Madrid. 1962.

True to the modernist spirit, when the first electric sewing machines arrived in Spain Tano was the first harness the technology and apply it to his craft. He expanded his product range to burlap sacks. The well proportioned bags were later adorned with leather handles and became a local fashion favorite. In time, Tano bags along with espadrilles from the neighboring city of Elche, would become the standard dress code in the region and later throughout Spain and Europe.

Tano's vision became one of innovation and discovery in handbags through shape, material, and color. Each new season brought renewed creativity and an expanding audience that couldn't get enough. In 1960, he turned the operations over to his two sons, Sebastian and Peter to fulfill his bold new vision. Together they opened the first modern handbag production line in Europe, Tano Iberica of Madrid. The brothers invested in new technologies at each opportunity so that they could quickly turn their artistic ideas into bags their audience could enjoy. The factory won the praises of the Spanish Export Council and earned recognition as Spain's largest and highest quality exporter of sewn goods during the 1960's and 1970's. The factory became the model which handbag factories around the globe would follow.

Edge painting at Tano Iberica of Madrid. 1962.

Founder Sebastian "Tano" Giner proudly shows his bag to the
American Ambassador to Spain. 1965.

In 2002, the company entered it's third generation of family management. Grandson's Steve and Seb, took over the reigns, bringing with them a colorful past of handbag innovation and leadership. Says Steve of the company's future "We hold our company's past in the highest esteem. But ironically we must have a certain irreverence for all things past. This is how we keep our bags fresh. This was an integral piece of our grandfather's vision. We need to keep making it new."