Caro Boyes joined Carrol Boyes in 2023 and is now the brand’s Creative Director. She has reworked patterns from her aunt Carrol’s archive for the CARO handbag collection, and this year led the brand into leather goods for the first time.
Ahead of Women’s Month, she spoke about growing up around her aunt’s work, finding her own creative voice, and what she wants people to say about the brand in 10 years’ time.
A Life Shaped by Legacy
You grew up watching your aunt Carrol build one of South Africa’s most recognised design brands. What’s your first real memory of the business?
My earliest memories are of her designs being around us at home. I don’t think I understood the scale of the business when I was young, but I knew that what Carrol was creating was different. There was always a sense of pride in her creativity. As I got older, I began to appreciate just how extraordinary what she had built actually was.
You studied Fine Art at Stellenbosch before doing a Master’s in Luxury Business in London. Was working for Carrol Boyes always the plan, or did it take you a while to get there?
From a young age, I knew I wanted to be part of Carrol’s creative world, and in many ways I shaped my path around getting there. But I also knew I needed to find my own way. Fine Art gave me my own creative foundation, and studying Luxury Business in London exposed me to a completely different side of design; how the world’s great creative brands build value, protect their identity and evolve over generations.
What was it like walking into the company in 2023, knowing everyone would be watching to see if you could live up to the name?
There was pressure, but I think most of it came from myself. I didn’t want to let anyone down or have people think I was there simply because I was family. When you join a business with Carrol’s name above the door, there are naturally going to be expectations. I never tried to prove that I could be Carrol, because I can’t be and I don’t want to be. For me, it was about understanding what made her work so special and then finding my own voice within that world.
Finding Her Own Voice as Creative Director
You’ve moved from designer to Creative Director in a fairly short time. What changed for you in that jump?
The biggest shift was moving from thinking about individual products to thinking about the brand. As a designer, you’re very focused on the object in front of you. As Creative Director, I’m constantly asking bigger questions: Does this feel like Carrol Boyes? Is it relevant today? Where is the brand going next? There’s more responsibility, but that’s also what makes it exciting.
Was there a specific moment when you felt like you’d earned your place, rather than just inherited it?
I don’t know if there was one defining moment. In some ways, I think you must keep earning your place every day. Seeing ideas that started as sketches become finished products that people genuinely respond to has given me confidence. But I never want to reach a point where I stop questioning myself or what we’re doing. That curiosity is part of being a designer.
Reviving the Archive: The CARO Collection
Tell us about the C A R O collection and how you decided which of Carrol’s archive patterns to bring back.
I wasn’t interested in simply reproducing old designs. We looked for patterns and elements that still felt visually strong, and then played with scale, placement, materials and application to make them feel contemporary. There’s something quite special about taking something Carrol drew years ago and allowing a new generation to discover it in a completely different context.
How do you strike a balance between honouring her original designs and putting your own stamp on something new?
I don’t treat the archive as something too precious to touch. Carrol certainly didn’t design that way as she was constantly experimenting. I think the best way to honour her is to continue that spirit rather than simply repeat what she did. I want somebody who has loved Carrol Boyes for twenty years to recognise something familiar, but I also want somebody seeing us for the first time to think, “That’s interesting. What is that?”
A Leather Legacy: Cradle, Toe Touch and Diver
The new leather collection uses hardware based on three of Carrol’s most famous pieces, Cradle, Toe Touch and Diver. Why those three?
Each one has a slightly different story. Cradle was a piece Carrol had already used in her original leather range, so bringing it back created a lovely connection between what she started and what we’re doing now. Toe Touch was a prototype sculpture that Carrol designed but never actually brought to life, which gave me the opportunity to take something from the archive and finally realise it in a new way. Diver, on the other hand, is one of our iconic sculptures and I wanted to see what would happen if we took something people already knew and gave it a completely different purpose.
What’s the design process actually like day to day: sketching, choosing materials, sourcing?
It’s a mixture of all of it, and it’s rarely linear. An idea might begin with a sketch, something I’ve found in the archive, a piece of hardware or even a particular material. From there, it’s a lot of development: proportions, leather, samples, changing things and sometimes changing them back again.
Handbags: A New Category for Carrol Boyes
Handbags are a big departure for a brand best known for cutlery and homeware. Was that a difficult case to make internally?
It was a big step, but it wasn’t something that came out of nowhere. Fashion was something Carrol, my father Charles and I had spoken about at length before she passed away. Carrol herself had explored handbags before, so the seed was already there. For me, it was less about convincing everyone that we should suddenly become a fashion brand and more about showing how naturally leather goods could fit into the world Carrol had already created. Her work has always blurred the line between sculpture and function, and a handbag gives us another way to explore that.
Who is the Carrol Boyes customer today, and has that changed since you joined?
I think we’re increasingly speaking to two generations at the same time. There is an incredibly loyal customer who has lived with Carrol Boyes for years and has a genuine emotional connection to the brand. I never want to lose that. But we’re also seeing younger customers discovering us through some of the more contemporary work we’re doing.
Life Outside the Studio and Plans to Grow
What does home life look like away from the studio? Do you switch off from design, or is it always running somewhere in the background?
I’m not very good at completely switching it off. Design is always somewhere in the background. You notice a material, a building, what somebody is wearing or how something has been put together. Sometimes the best ideas come when you’re deliberately not trying to have one. But I do think having a life outside the studio is important. You need some distance from the work to come back and see it properly again.
Where do you want to take the leather range over the next couple of years?
I want to build it slowly and properly. The ambition isn’t to suddenly make hundreds of different products. I’d rather establish a few recognisable shapes and pieces of hardware that become signatures for us, and then allow the collection to evolve naturally from there. Ultimately, I want somebody to recognise a Carrol Boyes bag before they even see the name.
Is there an appetite to grow beyond South Africa, and if so where?
Yes. Carrol Boyes is proudly South African, and I actually think that becomes more powerful internationally, not less. We have recently launched our UK website and are available to shop online which is huge step. For me, international growth isn’t about becoming less South African to appeal to the world. It’s about being confident enough in who we are to take that story to a much bigger audience.
The Legacy Ahead
Is there a part of Carrol’s archive you haven’t touched yet that you’re excited to explore?
So much of it. Every time you go into the archive, you find something you’ve forgotten about or suddenly see something differently because you’re looking at it through the lens of a new category.
What would you like people to be saying about the Carrol Boyes brand in 10 years’ time, once your own stamp is fully part of the story?
I’d love people to say that we managed to evolve without losing what made Carrol Boyes special in the first place.
What’s the one thing you hope never changes about the business, no matter how much it grows?
Its originality. Carrol had the courage to make things that didn’t necessarily look like anything else. She created from instinct and wasn’t afraid of being different.
Women’s Month is a fitting time to mark Caro Boyes’ move from niece to Creative Director. Her leather collection, including the new handbag range built around Cradle, Toe Touch and Diver, is available to shop now. Browse the Carrol Boyes handbag collection.
