“I am a perfectionist for creativity. I want everything to be extraordinarily beautiful, made by hand by talented artisans with meticulous craftsmanship and be completely unique in color and design. I am passionately dedicated to the fact that each one of my handbags embody many of the feelings and concepts that I love in the world; beauty, elegance, impeccable quality, originality, sensuality, hope and joy.”

Ellen Stern received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. She worked as a professional fashion photographer for many years in New York, Milan and the Baltimore/D.C. area. Stern was internationally recognized for her unique photographic style combining fashion and nature and published widely in numerous magazines and newspapers; i.e. GQ, In Style, Style Magazine & Washingtonian.

Ellen Stern’s design of the EJ Stern Collection is a further artistic expression of Stern’s fascination with the awesome beauty in the fusion of nature and fashion. Stern’s first Collection of handbags skyrocketed to national attention when she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show as a finalist in the “ Next Million Dollar Idea Competition” show.

Soon after, Oprah commissioned Stern to custom design a purse to be worn by Oprah herself at a charity event. Subsequently, Stern was invited to participate in many Fine Craft and Fashion Shows as well as Invitational Museum Shows. The artistic critical reviews to the Collection have been overwhelmingly fantastic as well as the Collection being purchased by approximately 50 of the highest end luxury boutiques worldwide.

Stern is the rare kind of artist who creates an item that is accepted in Art circles by Museums and Galleries and in the cutting edge of luxurious Fashion. Many consider Ellen Stern to be the next Judith Lieber; a compliment she accepts with enormous gratitude.