For the woman who needs to hear, "You're Beautiful."
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19″ W (top) x 16 1/2″ W (bottom) x 13″ H
9″ handle drop
100% leather, unlined, in rich cognac or deep black
Pure raw silk ribbon
Authentic Swarovski® crystals cross
Interior pocket with limited edition numbered inscription
Designed and hand-drawn secret interior floral glyph pattern by Christina Yep
Handlettered Beauty lies within you by Maria Seo Brown
Handcrafted by Arte y Piel leather artisans in San Julian, El Salvador
White Beauty Lies Within You reusable dustbag tote & white and gold gift box
"This tote is designed for the bearer and for noone else.
Its hidden interior points to the larger truth about her royal heritage as God’s beloved and I hope that she will feel the accompaniment of the Queen and the love of the King every time she carries it. Do you want to open it up and show a friend? Do it. Do you want to keep this message to yourself? Go ahead. It's for you."
Christina Yep
Beauty Lies Within You
Designer
We can't claim sole custody of the patterns that lie within the Royals leather tote - although we have found a new way to express them.
The floral glyphs and night stars patterns found in House of Royals pieces originate with the Queen of Heaven apparition to a humble, open-hearted man in Mexico, at the time when the gods and goddesses of the region were believed to be foreboding characters who governed with stern systems and demanded bloody child sacrifice and ritual for the flourishing of the nation.
When the woman appeared on the hill of Tepeyac, she approached the man with tenderness, wearing the teal and rose red of the tribal goddesses, imprinted with floral glyphs that symbolized pictorially in their language, both the rivers and mountains of native worship and also the arteries leading to a heart. She was clothed with the night sky constellations of the day she appeared.
She also appeared pregnant, with the waist band of the pregnant tribal mothers, and her dress of glyphs was covered in jasmine flowers, none more prominent than the one hovering above her womb. That one jasmine flower, unlike all the others she wore, was the four-petaled jasmine, the Mayan empire's symbol for their highest deity. It was as if she could hardly contain the fact - even in her royal dress - that the Son in her womb was indeed the true Deity that their hearts had been longing for.
The beauty that lies within.
The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared in Mexico several times, most prominently on December 12, 1531, dressed in royal garb and bearing a message of motherly tenderness, revolutionizing the prevalent thought on deities and royalty at the time. Upon her mantle she bore the constellations present in the stars that night over Mexico, and her dress bore symbolic floral glyphs and jasmine flowers.
In envisioning the Beauty Lies Within You tote, we wanted to ensure each woman knew how literally unrepeatable she is. Numbering the bags with a serial number has provided us the opportunity for her to know that she is so particularly special, and she can claim ownership of her number.
Only 100 of these have been created in each color, and a new series may follow, but for now, they are the only ones of their kind in the entire universe.
Arte & Piel x Royals: A collaboration for artisanal beauty and a force for good.
Each leather product is handcreated and sewn by Salvadoran hands under the skilled guidance of Gabriel Pleitez, owner and entrepreneur of El Salvador’s Arte & Piel. Arte & Piel and House of Royals share a vision of elevating life to beauty and grace, providing work for local leathermakers of San Julian and the highest possible quality for each customer. Arte & Piel creates many varieties of accessories in genuine leather, building upon a modern and elegant style in the daily life of their international customer base and delicately caring for every detail, particularly the option for personalization, to help their customers write stories that last a lifetime.
Every weekend, Arte & Piel also leads an arduous humanitarian trip into the jungle of El Salvador to build steel roofs onto the makeshift homes (often previously constructed of branches, cardboard and plastic) for the poorest of the poor in their locality. Each piece Gabriel and his team produce for House of Royals has lasting effects on the living wage of their own employees as well as the sponsorship of the poor of their villages and surroundings, and it is for this reason that Arte & Piel and House of Royals strive to grow into even higher levels of excellence and beauty, with a view to extending this impact with every purchase.