Walking into Tissa Fontaneda’s store feels like entering a home. Amidst the scent of expensive leather and freshly hung cashmere and wools, a familiar tone hovers in the air as I listen to Spanish chitchats taking over the room. “I brought all my team from Madrid for tonight,” Tissa tells me. She refers to the party happening in the same store later in the day, celebrating one of their biggest milestones to date: the launch of their first flagship in the UK, in the heart of Belgravia.

It’s not the first time, though, that the British capital sees Tissa’s name around. “We had a shop before, but it was a franchise,” she tells me as we sit down for coffee. “So it was a mixture of Tissa Fontaneda bags and some other clothing brands as well. But I was not really happy with it. But you know, it was a good way, to be fair, to test the market and see. It worked well, and I just said, okay, now I’m ready to create my own universe and to start doing some ready-to-wear as well,” she says. With a solid clientele and expertise in mastering the art of craftsmanship with her handmade bags and leather accessories, the brand now unveils its first ready-to-wear collection—a selection of timeless pieces that beautifully converge chicness, premium materials, and the brand’s heritage.

Looking at the pieces Tissa has created since the beginning of her brand, one that has such a concise and established essence and design, it’s hard to imagine the reasons why she hasn’t stepped into producing fashion attire before. “I was a bit nervous in the beginning because there’s a challenge when we think of linking the ready-to-wear collection to the handbags,” Tissa tells me. “I mean, we’re not [John] Galliano,” she laughs. “You have to do something that is branded, classy, and elegant with a twist.”

In fashion, the designer one uses to describe the epitome of excellence can say a lot about a person and their craft. Just like Galliano, Tissa has a special connection with Spain, despite her Austrian-German roots. “I studied in Italy, and then I went to work in Paris, where I entered the fashion world, and then I ended up in Spain because Louis Vuitton sent me there for, let’s say, a special project producing Thierry Mugler handbags. They needed somebody who could link the high-end fashion world of Paris with a very traditional artisan world in Madrid,” she tells me. “In the beginning, I didn’t think I would stay there. I didn’t speak the language at the time, nothing. But, well, then how it is in life, you know, you get married, and then, I got a very nice job. So I stayed.”

After working under the wings of some of the biggest names in the industry, she grew to develop her own eponymous brand. Tissa Fontaneda’s production is still mainly based in Spain, but for her new ventures, she decided to explore the best Europe can offer when it comes to top-notch materials and craftsmanship by expanding such a geographical ratio. “All our bags are produced in Spain, using Spanish leather. It’s also my part of sustainability, you know, to really keep the things produced very close to us, and it’s part of my brand philosophy,” she says. “But at Tissa Fontaneda, we are all about materials, so it made sense that I’d start from there for my first ready-to-wear collection.”

So she flew to her homeland, Austria, and drove around the country to visit different manufacturers in person, on the hunt for a perfect match between her vision, sensorial excellence, and likeminded local producers. “I took the car, and I went to see many different manufacturers of Loden — but not the Oktoberfest Loden,” she laughs, making reference to the traditional wool jacket worn in the Bavarian celebration. “And I found this cloth, a beautiful lanacot [wool], which is an elegant version of the Loden, and I knew it was it.”

From Austria to Italy, it was in South Tyrol that Tissa fulfilled a vision she always knew she had for this collection. “I wanted pure cashmere, really the best of the best. And there’s no better place for it than in Italy,” she says. Unlike many other leather-based accessories lines, Tissa’s imprint is based on a saturated and joyful colour palette, as well as her unique “bubble” texture on leather, the most delicate and special work of craftsmanship that she developed in her early days.

Listening to Tissa feels so personal and close to home as she lets her passion and love for the craft overflow. In times when digitization and mass production slowly detach massive heritage brands from their roots, I wonder what it means for her to keep the production so close to where and how it started. “I mean, quality is expensive. There’s nothing around that, you know. So if you want nice leather, if you want nice quality, it’s expensive, especially in our times, unfortunately. I know that there are people producing cashmere sweaters in Mauritius for much less, and that’s okay. But we are really doing this in Europe. I want to stay as a European brand,” she says.

And the new London store couldn’t feel closer to her roots as she hand-picks her daughter, Carlotta, to be in charge of the first British address. “She is the one. I couldn’t do it without her. I mean, she is in many ways much better than I am,” she laughs. As we walk around the brand-new store, amidst last-minute display amends and giggles of excitement, she introduces me to the collection she created exclusively for the special occasion. Think butter-soft cashmere, brilliantly printed cardigans with patterns that imitate her signature bubbles, and leather ponchos, as well as an amazing selection of basics—and her first-ever men’s collection. “In some pieces, as you see, the bubble appears in some details of the coat, like the collars that remind us of Tracht, the typical Bavarian and Austrian jackets—that I actually love,” she says.

As we part ways, and I stroll back to Wonderland’s office, I reflect on something Tissa shared with me minutes after pausing my voice recorder, reminding me of why I fell in love with fashion in the first place. During a season in London in the early days of her career, she used to walk by the same Motcomb Street in Belgravia and thought to herself that one day she would have her name written in one of those windows.

Some people, like Tissa, are so passionate about their art that they learn how to translate these feelings into their craft. This passion is palpable not only when looking at her bags and now ready-to-wear collection but also when she speaks so highly about her team and everything she has achieved. “We are wonderful. Truly a dream team. We are just like a family”.