An Irvine company’s handbags may land in the Smithsonian Christmas and/or jewelry catalogs.
Laga Designs International’s five purses and a wallet have passed a pre-selection stage for the catalogs, said Danette Nguyen, assistant buyer for the Smithsonian catalogs.
The products in the Smithsonian catalogs are picked because they relate in some way to its museums’ collections. That allows it to keep its non-profit status.
The Laga bags will relate to the Asian ethological collection at the National Museum of Natural History. The collection comprises of 30,000 objects from Southeast Asia, Nguyen said.
The Laga bags are handmade by more than 150 tsunami victims in Aceh, the Indonesian province that was destroyed by the earthquake and subsequent tidal waves on Dec. 26, 2004.
The nearly three-year-old Laga business allows founder Roy Van Broekhuizen, pictured above, to reconnect with his childhood. His family, part Dutch and part Indonesian, fled Indonesia when he
was 9.
A Smithsonsian buyer came across the Laga handbags at a trade show in Las Vegas.
The institution plans to sell these pieces from $30 to $140, slightly higher than what they go for on Laga’s Web site. The Harapan “Hope” purse, pictured right, which Laga retails from $130 to $190, is one of the bags Smithsonian is considering.
The local company will find out in about two to three weeks whether it made the final cut for the Smithsonsian catalogs that arrive in homes in October, Nguyen said.
(Register photo of Van Broekhuizen and his wife Louise with their bags. Other photo from Laga Web site.)
More O.C. retail:
- $3.3 million Laguna Beach home for sale on … Walmart.com
- $1.35 million Tiffany ring bought by O.C. resident
- South Coast Plaza lands another diamond giant
- Home furnishings by … John Wayne
- Target debuts O.C. illustrator’s dolls
For more O.C. retail, see list of links on right-hand side of this blog.
Thank you Hang for this article. You are a fantastic writer and we have received numerous responses on this article already.
We are participating in many large trade shows this year, started in NY, Atlanta, Las Vegas, leaving for Dallas June 18-24 for F!NDS Temporary Show, then San Francisco International Gift Fair, AccessoriesTheShow NY and AccessoriesTheShow Las Vegas in August.
Hope to see our supporters at any of our shows.
Best wishes,
Roy
YAYYYY…..I knew it was just a matter of time before the big bosses saw your bags and the bag I have ….HARIPAN is the one of the bags they are considering!!!I am glad I made such a great choice!
Hope to stop by the showroom again REAL soon!
~ Nicole
Hi Louise: I’m so excited for you both and your beautiful bags.
We are doing well too and hope to see you at another show.
Sandy O’Connor and Sandy Lutter
Grace Designs
Lovely, informative site, thanks
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.