About

HELEN POS

I am a fashion designer with over 40 years experience specialising in leather goods manufacturing and working with Australian leading fashion industries. I’m not just a designer, I design, make the patterns and make the finished bags personally.

I was born in Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic and grew up in Prague, where the name ZPRAHY come from. It means From Prague.

During the Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, I was 18 years old and I immigrated to Australia with no English. I missed my home badly but was keen to learn and start a new chapter in life. With my art knowledge and skills developed at art school in Prague, combined with my taste for fashion, I landed a job in a handbag factory in Sydney.

My skills and eye for design were quickly recognised and I was promoted from sewing machinists to designing and creating handbag collections.

I am proud of my Czech roots, but I’m also an incredibly proud Australian. I was selling my own collection - Praha Collection - at Paddington Markets for many years.

But, as these markets moved away from their tradition of selling Australian made and were open to imports, my passion for local and Australian made products was compromised, sparking the launch of this website.

It wasn’t an easy decision as I’m a big believer in stone and mortar shops. Being able to touch and feel the materials and try things on... However, this is the 21st century and the way of the world today.

I hope you love my collections as much as I loved designing them.

You will find that each piece is completely unique as they are crafted from natural cowhides and other skins meaning no two will ever be the same.

Thank you for visiting my website.