Melissa Morris Would Like a Word About Your Doors
The founder of Métier judges quality by the corners everyone else cuts.
Melissa Morris, the founder and designer behind Métier, talks about the padding on a bag strap with the same conviction she brings to selecting farmstand tomatoes.
She studied sculpture at Emory and then built a career across the luxury houses — Helmut Lang, Armani, Belstaff, LVMH — without ever designing a bag. That came in 2017, when she founded Métier, the London leather house that has since become a word-of-mouth obsession. Every style is made in Italy and stress-tested to survive twenty years of wear.
Morris traces her instinct for function back to Charlotte Perriand, the French modernist whose Chaise Longue she still keeps close. Perriand worked around the thesis that a beautiful object could also be pragmatic, and Morris designs by the same measure — which makes her own taste worth interrogating.
Jess Graves: Your bags must all be your babies. What bag are you reaching for most right now — and what’s actually inside it?
Melissa Morris: I am wearing my Twist non-stop right now. It’s the perfect season for a bucket bag, and I love the bombé strap on ours – we made it with high-frequency heat and super-soft padding, so it has a lot of dimension but is still soft and flexible. Inside… nothing too unexpected, just my sunglasses, AirPods, my keys and cardholder, treats for my puppy Edie, of course my phone, my sketchbook, my pen, some Post-its (like Graydon Carter, I have lists for my lists) and some Tic Tacs – I love the wintergreen ones.
JG: Pragmatism for the win. What’s the last thing you bought that solved a real problem in your day-to-day life?
MM: Anatome’s Chamomile and Lavender Sleep Oil – it helps when I am on the road, calming my mind at the end of a busy day and with jet lag.
JG: What’s one object you’ll never travel without, no matter how short the trip?
MM: My AirPods; I am always listening to music.
JG: Now I want your playlist! What’s the most beautiful functional object you own?
MM: The Charlotte Perriand Chaise Longue. It is so comfortable, so functional, and so beautiful. Perriand is a major source of inspiration behind my design for Métier.
JG: Where do you splurge without hesitation — and where are you surprisingly disciplined?
MM: The farmstand. I will not balk at the price of heritage tomatoes. For me, it’s all about investing in good quality ingredients and then doing very little with them in the kitchen. Conversely, I am very disciplined at a larger supermarket. Seeing all this food in mass like that really turns me off; I end up buying much less than when I am at individual purveyors.
JG: Same. A perfect tomato? Priceless. What brand or object do you think is wildly underappreciated right now?
MM: A book, a magazine, a newspaper. I love reading from a physical piece of paper rather than online. It is a much more special ritual.
JG: What’s the most complimented item in your wardrobe?
MM: My Private Eye… and my vintage Nick Cave t-shirt.
JG: What’s a piece you’ve owned for years that still feels relevant every time you use it?
MM: I know this is not the most unusual answer, but it is true… for sure it would be my vintage 501s. They never fail to make me feel great.
JG: What’s your non-negotiable when it comes to design — the thing you always notice first?
MM: Quality. Period. End of story. You can easily see if a material is cheap or badly sewn. Someone once told me to always judge a home by the quality of the doors – it’s the first place anyone cuts budget. I think that is very true…
JG: What’s one thing you’ve stopped buying altogether?
MM: Scrunchies or barrettes – my haircut now is so short there is no need!
JG: Okay, no hair scrunchies. But what is in your cart right now that you’re debating?
MM: I have been thinking a lot about a Colleen Allen dress for a friend’s birthday party I have coming up in Italy. I also have been dying to splurge on a pair of Fernando Jorge earrings – with my short hair, I have decided this is going to be my earring era.
JG: What’s the last thing you saw someone else wearing or using that made you want it immediately?
MM: Hmm… I usually avoid that, actually – I find that when I buy things that look great on someone else, they usually don’t work well on me. Whether it’s because we have different body shapes or our styles differ, it never works the same way and just doesn’t feel as authentic. Case in point, loafers really don’t work on me… as much as I want them to. I can’t quite explain why, but they just don’t.
JG: What’s the best gift you give — something you return to again and again?
MM: For a woman, the Inside Out Wallet is the perfect gift – it’s a design that is so unsuspecting, but you realize after using it you can’t live without it. I also love monogramming our toiletry sets for people. We recently introduced these fun sets of products that make gifting more fun. We worked really hard on the packaging design; we have the most talented graphic designer on our team, who hand-painted each one, and then we scanned and printed the artwork. It was also a ton of fun coming up with the names. I am also really excited about our new domino set coming this summer – it is the perfect host gift.
JG: I love asking this question because everyone has such radically different definitions. What does “luxury” actually mean to you, in practice?
MM: Perfected quality – no compromises on any element. Perfected experience – everything I need is there without me having to ask, but it doesn’t hover or feel overwrought, either. Perfected vibe – classic, timeless, but also surprising.
JG: If someone wanted to understand your taste in five objects or fewer, what would you point them to?
MM: My 501s, my Pierre Paulin Tongue chair, my fish plates from Greece, my Charvet slippers, and my record collection.
JG: Describe your perfect Sunday.
MM: My perfect Sunday would involve yoga, a long walk with Edie, my puppy, a stop by the farmers’ market, cooking while I catch up with my mom on the phone, enjoying Sunday dinner with my partner, and then watching a movie before an early night (I love sleep).
I was looking for those Phoebe Philo flats!! Saw Simi (or Haze, not sure lol) in them this week. They're so lovely!!
There is nothing better than farmers market produce. Great interview!