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Laura Bee Designs is a small business dedicated to creating original handbags and personal accessories. Our mission is to create stylish and functional products without sweatshop labor or leather products.
We strive to support other small, creative businesses through our marketing efforts and community network. We believe that, amid the mass merchandizing of our world, people are in search of functional items made with an original, human touch.
Laura Bee Designs' work emphasizes quality materials, customization, and designs that are influenced by the vintage fashion. Due to the artisan nature of the business, the bags are created in limited editions, and frequently are one of a kind, featuring vintage buttons and/or fabrics.
The Studio
In the summer of 2002, Laura Bee Designs outgrew its studio in designer Laura Buzard's spare room. Laura and her husband Jeff Smith leased a retail space in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, painted the ceiling lipstick pink, and moved in the sewing machine, fabric, and computer. Since then, we've been taking orders for custom bags, and selling lots of great products handmade by other creative companies.
In December of 2003, Seattle Magazine named Laura Seattle's Best Purse Designer. In September of 2006 Laura Bee Designs was named as one of Seattle's Top Ten Small Businesses by the Mayor's office. In November of the same year, the LBD studio doubled in size at the same Ballard location.
How we started
Laura began sewing and playing with fabric when she was given a toy sewing machine as a child. Then her mother's friend gave her a 1960's Singer sewing machine (complete with orange flower decorations) when she was ten. She learned how to make drawstring bags and elastic skirts. She continued to expand her sewing and design skill throughout her teenage years and adult life through both education and experimentation.
Spurred on by positive feedback to her personal work, and an entrepreneurial spirit, Laura launched Laura Bee Designs in 2001. Now we market our products to independent shops nationwide, from our studio/showroom in Seattle, and on the internet.
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