Joi to the Girl

At a Glance

Age: 31
Hometown: New Iberia, LA
Web: joijohnston.com

Tracing her fingertips down the side of the leather, a polished slice of deep, summer evening blue, it is obvious that Joi Johnston has a not-so-secret crush.

“See, this is nice,” she says, turning over the piece of snakeskin that has yet to make it onto one of her luxury handbags. “But this. This is what I’m obsessed with.”

While the top layer of exotic leathers, be they alligator, lizard, snake or even fish, are instantly recognizable, it’s the unpredictable underside, a textured to the touch and looking marbled or paint-splashed or far-out psychedelic that has captured the designer’s imagination.

Turns out that with leather, just like most endeavors, beneath the surface is where things really get wild.

But discovering the wilderness of her own muse took her longer than flipping over a cut of leather on a tabletop. Two years ago, Johnston was working weary hours in the Manhattan office of a major fashion designer, as the city, the attractions, her boss, everything was bursting with fashion and creativity. And yet, she often found herself looking up at the clock at 4 p.m. and realizing she hadn’t eaten all day.

Johnston was taking orders in New York, but not creating at all, just as she had as a sewer of austere Mardi Gras queen dresses in New Orleans years before.

“We were the Cinderella mouses,” the UL fashion design graduate said. “We were doing everything, and I honed in my sewing skills, my hand sewing. That whole Mardi Gras world was a crazy experience, but it really solidified that I wanted to be designing, and not just sewing. I wanted to do my own thing.”

Johnston’s first line of bags, nearly 30 eclectic pieces in total, almost ended in tears, with boutique after boutique telling her “no.” But she posted her work online, and within 24 hours, family and friends had bought up them all. That support gave her the confidence to try again.

“The bag market is highly saturated, so what’s my ‘why’?” Johnston recalls thinking. “It takes a lot of work to stand out with a handbag, so I realized I needed to focus my brand.”

Since that first line in 2019, she has zeroed in on her obsession with exotics, and refined her process on her need to be a hands-on creator.

“I’m not trying to be a trendy brand, I don’t have the infrastructure for that, even if I wanted to. I’m trying to make pieces that can be worn and used forever, classic look and feel,” Johnston says.

Though she now has help with sewing, she designs each bag by hand in the Lafayette home she shares with her husband, Aaron.

“It would be nice if I could go on the computer, work up a bag digitally and be done with it, but I just can’t,” she says. “I need to get my hands on the material. To feel the leather, to explore.”

Making products people will use daily is a vulnerable place to put herself, Johnston says. That’s why she has to completely believe in each design before producing it. And belief, like creativity, takes time.

“I’m trying to carve out time just to explore with designs, even if it doesn’t lead to a product,” Johnston says. “Because that’s the rewarding part of the process for me.”

With an eye on collaboration and expanding her palette, Johnston hopes to build out a team as her boutique brand grows. Maintaining haute couture quality while evoking a dynamic connection to nature, to the wilder side of the spirit of Louisiana, is the most fundamental aspect of her work. She aims to keep it that way.

“It’s taken significantly more courage than I was expecting, but I’ve learned I’m good at sticking things out,” Johnston says of her journey through creative entrepreneurship. “Even now, there’s a million reasons to not pursue this, but in my gut, I know this is the thing I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m not going to give up.”

Q&A

If y’all have friends visiting Lafayette, where are you taking them? Depending on the season we would go to Crawfish Time, Johnson’s Boucaniére, Spoonbill, Pop’s, Wild Child Wines and Bayou Teche Brewing. For non-Cajun food: Saigon Noodles, Patacon, Bangkok Thai and the taco truck on University Street. We would have to see live music at Blue Moon or the Hideaway, and go kayaking on Lake Martin, too.

You use alligator leather, so have you ever had an up-close live gator experience? Yes, when crabbing at Cypremort Point, we always see some pretty close by. And at my parents’ house on the bayou, there are plenty for sure.

What’s something about NYC that you wish South Louisiana had? Amazing public transportation. And four seasons, ha!

If you could collaborate with or create a bag for someone famous, who would it be? Margot Robbie. Not because of Barbie, just because she has amazing style and a very classic look. Or Reese Witherspoon, who’s such a strong Southern woman and so talented. I just love her so much.