Sydnie Peebles
Founder & Artisan, Sydnie Banks
Sydnie Peebles is the visionary founder of Sydnie Banks, a luxury handbag brand specializing in one-of-one, 100% saddle-stitched, sculptural bags crafted using age-old techniques. Her work has been seen on the runway at New York Fashion Week, in The Oklahoman, WWD, and featured in ELLE UK as the Global Fashion Brand Feature of the Year.
Her journey began in 2010 after discovering a YouTube video of a Hungarian shoemaker that sparked her love for leatherwork. She went on to earn her art degree, apprentice under world-renowned Oklahoma-based cowboy bootmaker Lisa Sorrell, and later study in Winston, England, with master saddle-stitcher Charlie Trevor. Sydnie returned to Oklahoma and founded Sydnie Banks in memory of her stillborn son, Banks, working primarily at night while her four young children slept in the next room.
In 2025, Sydnie was selected as a finalist for both the FGI Rising Star Award and the AC Design Excellence Award.
Based in Edmond, Oklahoma, Sydnie lives with her husband, Chris, and their four children.
The Founders
Stacy Johnson
Founder & Publisher, Luxiere
Stacy Johnson has always been fascinated by the beauty of life, and the unlimited ways people invent and reinvent themselves. Her work in creating Luxiere is in many ways the natural extension of her passions for celebrating people as she finds them: mesmerizing, charming, startling and unique. Her career in publishing began 25 years ago when she launched Oklahoma’s Homes & Land Magazine, a publication about local real estate in Oklahoma. Prior to her publishing career, Stacy worked in restaurant management for eight years, and in the insurance industry for nearly a decade, where she built her own flourishing agency in Tulsa from the ground up. Stacy officially launched Luxiere in 2015, and with each issue she’s brought the very best of Oklahoma to her growing readership.
