I met Clara Kasavina, a small charming woman with a warming and positive aura in a small cozy cafe. Not so long ago I discovered for myself her unique jewelry and stunning handbags. I was absolutely amazed and wanted to learn more about her success story.
1979 Clara met her husband Misha. Clara recalls: “When I was 9 years old, my mother took me every summer to Ukraine, where we rented a dacha (summer house). We travelled to Zhitomir. One year my mother took me to dacha, Misha was also there. His whole family is from Zhitomir. We remember, that we met each other as children. Then years later we meet again in America. Very strange. Mystical.”
“I believe you have to have goals in your life to achieve.”
The young couple got together and shortly after Misha lost his job. Being confronted with the reality of unemployment, Misha took freelance work. One of the projects he brought home was a sculpture of a horse. He made this sculpture into a belt buckle. Clara says: “When I saw the horse, I knew, how rare Misha’s talent was.” Realizing, that it would be very difficult for a talented person like Misha to find a suitable employment, Clara suggested “we’ll have to go into our own business.”
At that moment Clara was working as a computer programmer. She sold her apartment in Israel and invested the money from the sale into their business. She continues: “We rented a small office in NYC on Madison Ave. With my very broken English I started calling belt manufactures, from the yellow pages, so that my husband’s beautiful creations could be viewed. Everybody wanted to see, what my husband was doing. And we went to show his work. And I must say, any place we went, the doors were open. The people were interested in what he was showing. We started to produce belt buckles for the belt industry.”
Clara further: “We were selling thousands of buckles through brand names such as Liz Claiborne, Calderon Belts/ manufacturer for Anne Klein, etc. It was an amazing pleasure to see people in NYC wearing our buckles. Because of our success with buckles in 1983 we decided to branch out into the custom jewelry market. 1994 we started our handbag collection.”
About the name Clara Kasavina. “Let’s go Kasavina”.
Clara says: “Misha likes my name and he wanted to have it as our business name. It is customary for designers to use their names such as Judith Leiber or Donna Karan. Misha’s last name is Berger. But my previous married name is Kasavina. Clara Kasavina. We played around with the name and liked it. And so it became Clara Kasavina.”
Clara makes a short break, takes a sip from her tee and continues:
“There is also a story behind the story. My grandparents have the same name like me and my husband. Clara and Misha. They were silversmith people back in Old Russia, producing jewelry. Today Misha and Clara are doing the same, we also produce jewelry. Mystical.”
Did you feel any obstacles because of your Russian origin or did it not play any role?
“Yes, I felt obstacles. My accent was not always understood and I lacked American business education. However we were lucky. The American dream was achievable at the time we started. Nowadays, I think, it is even more difficult to start a business.”
About the business. “Proud of making everything in New York”.
Clara Kasavina creates, produces and manufactures all their products (handbags, jewelry, belts) in Long Island City, New York. Clara proudly says “We make most everything by hand in New York, while most manufacturers produce in other countries. We didn’t go this road. We are proud of making our products here. It’s very important for us.” She adds: “Because we design unusual, happy, I would say, desirable products. And because we are different, we were able to survive all these years. We have been blessed to be able to do what we love for a living.”
Clara’s usual working day is hectic and busy. It could be divided between office, production and working on a new line. While Misha is consistently working on models and molds by hand, Clara
is always on the move. She says: “I would be not able to sit.”
About creativity. “I never knew, that I was creative”.
As a computer programmer by profession, Clara says, she never knew, that she was creative until she met Misha. “He saw my potential and talent and gave me the confidence to create.”
Clara’s life is full of stories. Once again she is looking back and recalls the mystical happenings of her life:
“When I was 15 years old back in Saint Petersburg, I worked at a jewelry factory. My job was to glue stones. And today I teach my girls at the factory to glue stones using the same technique.”
Further in our conversation, answering my question about her favorite part in her job, she says decidedly: “Creativity. For me that’s like a game. When I design, I always look around what I have and then I create a story. My designs are very fast and spontaneous.”
About passion to vintage. “Love it, love it, love it!”
Clara says, “I always had a passion for vintage pieces. It was once very popular, it’s gonna be popular again. That’s what I believe.”
Since her childhood Clara was fascinated with vintage. Here she takes her inspiration. But she also collects different kinds of vintage things: handbags, hats, gloves. She looks for them on garage sales, flea markets, stores. With a twinkle in her eyes she says: “I love beautiful things. Maybe when we’ll stop running our factory, I will sell my vintage collection.”
Clara says, “We have been very lucky to get editorials in major publications. We are also very proud, that our Romeo Minaudiere won in 2011 an Independent Handbag Red Carpet Designer Award.”
Recently the designer couple had a honour to create a project for the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. Moreover Swarovski promotes the Clara Kasavina brand at their exhibitions. Clara says, that she is always amazed and grateful, when she sees celebrities wearing her merchandise. Rihanna, Hayden Panettiere, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez are some of the stars, that have worn Clara Kasavina.
Right now Clara is working on a new collection, consisting of three parts. One group is influenced by South Africa, the second one by Asia and the third group is inspired by Anna Karenina.
Our conversation took a short break, as Misha walks in to the cafe. Clara smiles: “I love my grandchildren. I love my daughter. I love my son-in-law. Family is very important to me, the most important. If the family is okay, then I can play”. A dog Kesha, 16 years old Whitney terrier, belongs to the family as well.
I use the opportunity, asking Clara about working together with Misha. “Misha is the maker.”
Clara says emphatically: “Misha is a maker. Misha is multi talented. He is a graphic designer, sculptor, architect, engineer. And that’s why he knows how to make a quality model, how to make a quality product. He is very modern. His designs from 80s are selling now as well as in the past.” She continues: “I think, what keeps us going forward, is respect to each other. Of course we love each other. For both of us family is very important.” She stressed, that not every couple would be able to work together, but in their case it works good. Clara opens her secret: “We give each other space. Sometimes we have fights, not without that. But we never go crazy at the same time.”
About her daughter’s Anya Rubin decision to become an artist. “I believe in Anya’s art.”
“As a child Anya loved to watch Misha while he was drawing his designs. One day she said “Papa, you are so lucky! I would love to have some kind of talent like you have!” In Judaism we believe, you have three seconds to make a wish. Probably there were her three seconds.
Clara says, “I believe in Anya’s art. I predict, that my Anya will be a very important visionary artist. Because what I see in her work, it’s not just a painting. Anya is philosophical and very smart. She is a workaholic. And I think, she can achieve a lot.”
About a woman, carrying a handbag from Clara Kasavina. “Woman, who wants to be noticed.”
“I think, a woman who wants to be noticed, would wear Clara Kasavina bag.” As to the age group of Clara Kasavina buyers, Clara says, there are no limits for her products. I’m sure, Clara can dress up every woman from 18 till 100. Her products are so lovely, special and diversified!
Clara, what advice can you give to all women?
“Women should be confident, knowledgeable, beautiful and brave! Take chances, believe in yourself, make goals and achieve them!”
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