GROWING
Sakura Urban started out like a lot of small businesses, as a hobby. My wife had started doing some sewing in her spare time as a way to escape the daily grind. Before long, mind you – we live in a small condo downtown, every bit of extra space we had was covered with one of her latest sewing projects. The projects tended to revolve around bags. She had always been a big fan of bags (I expected shoe’s but no bags were her thing)…so I spent many hours shopping for the alleged “perfect bag”. I usually found that it didn’t exist. There were flashy bags, big bags, minimalist bags and a lot of in-between. However, the qualities that made a really nice bag to her wasn’t about being flashy, it was about representing her personality, the design and it had to be well made. Being that she is a Visual Communication Designer – she already had an eye for the design. This all led to that moment when her hobby turned into a business. As she picked fabrics to create her bag and designed the elements and features that would make it useful, as well as representative of her personality we both thought….“she can’t be the only women that wants this, right?” At that moment the idea was born.
DESIGN SPACE
As she created more and more custom bags I was losing the battle of having space to sit. It was time to start looking for a studio or something to gain a bit more space in our lives. We happened upon a store-front in the Massachusetts Avenue Cultural District and immediately fell in love with a small little boutique space. At that point, although we had initially been just looking for a space to make the bags and continue to sell them online or through friends it dawned on us – why not a store-front that we can use as a studio and benefit from selling from there too! Within a few months we were in our space and the work began. In came new floors, new paint, new lights and a lot of thought into how the flow of the place would work. We wanted to create a place that women could come to and pick the fabrics, the style of the bag and essentially make it fit their personality. The store would have that old-world crafts”woman” feel merged with a modern design studio all set in a beautiful, colorful boutique space. It helped that the space was 100 years+ with lofted ceilings and exposed brick.
A NAME ISN’T JUST A NAME
A lot of people inquire about the name Sakura Urban. Initially the brand was TM Studio Designs and we just felt that it lacked the personality we were going for. We had wrestled with names on and off and finally chose one that pulled from the bags themselves. “Sakura” means cherry blossom in Japanese. A lot of the fabrics that we had sourced had been of a Japanese nature. The “urban” part was essentially for whom we were designing and what we consider ourselves – urban dwellers. Along with the Japanese fabrics we sourced fabrics from the top lines from around the world. Often it took time to forge a relationship with the fabric designers for them to allow us to use their products. We didn’t want to use fabrics you could get at any craft store.
IN OTHER BOUTIQUES
The line continued to expand and at the urging of our boutique neighbor, who had been a sales rep in her previous career, we attended our first trade-show in Chicago. We didn’t know what to expect but overall our first exhibit was a success. We managed to sell enough “orders” that we covered our costs and got a feel for how this whole sub-culture of supply and demand worked. We learned a lot of lessons that we would take back and refine our brand with.
WHO’S IN CHARGE AROUND HERE
Everything that was done was done in house by us both. We took the photos, designed the booths for the trade-shows, refined the bags, made the bags, made the tags, created the image and built the brand. We took on a partner who helped with the logistics and gave us vision of what we could be.
IT’S ALL IN THE BAG
Things over the next few years were hectic but very exciting. This little bag company started to expand. Our styles, as you might say, were growing up. The designs were more complex and as we learned the craft better we incorporated leather and bought our first industrial sewing machine. Up to this point my wife had been doing all the sewing and I did a lot of the back-ground work – like writing “about us” stories and taking the pictures. Did I mention I am a branding photographer for hire?!?! So now that we had an industrial machine I felt it was “manly” enough to finally learn how to sew. We always kept the quality of the bags and the needs of the customer forefront in our minds and designs. We had made the decision from the beginning that we would never skimp on the materials. We always have chosen and will continue to choose the best materials. We found the best Italian leather and have continued to use it exclusively, pairing it with upholstery grade fabrics for the interior. That was really the point when the brand transformed from a small, crafty type look to a line that could be compared to the high-end brands. Our next few trade-shows introduced our new line of leather bags to the buyers from boutiques across the U.S. The positive reaction was immediate and they appreciated that these were handcrafted, high-quality, made in America and most importantly a “perfect bag”, one that melds the beauty of bags materials to the great design. Don’t get me wrong – we are continuing to better the bags so our idea of “perfect” is a fluid image, one that is changing with our skill-level and the needs of our customers. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next.
WHAT HAPPENED TO SAKURA URBAN “THE STORE”
As you may have found out, our store space that had recently moved into a bigger space from one end of Mass. Ave to the other end has closed. This was a very difficult decision. The reason it was made was simple – our business had grown to include two sub-businesses. The first, was a store that offered our bags and other gift type items from artist; second, a thriving wholesale business. We needed to make a choice between the two. We saw the impact of the wholesale business and it felt more true to our overall goal, getting great bags on the shoulders of women everywhere. It also has the potential to grow into a company with a broader touch.
IN THE NEAR FUTURE
Over the last year we continue to expand into boutiques across the U.S. and now to the world. We keep adding stores that carry our lines from as close as right here in Indianapolis to as far away as Australia. As the women’s line expands we are working on designs for men’s travel, messenger bags and wallets. Our philosophy, as you may have figured out by now, is about creating a brand that highlights detail in design, craftsmanship and handmade quality. It stresses the need to get back to what made our country great – crafts people creating a product that not only is truly what people want but also one that lasts, that gets better with age. This is something we strive for in every aspect of our lives and hope you will see that in any of our products that you buy. It is about the craft, it is about the human hands that have touched and built that product and it is always about the “story”…