With cutthroat competition and the demand for new styles all the time, the handbag business is so chaotic that you don't often find a designer in a quiet place. But Nancy Gonzalez seems unusually grounded.
While in Houston recently to meet customers and select fashion media at Saks Fifth Avenue, Gonzalez emanates a positive glow that's absolutely calming. What's her secret?
Despite her hectic schedule, she spends at least two hours a day in meditation and prayer — "trying to listen to myself."
"Trying to be happy," she says with a big laugh. "My biggest responsibility in life is to enjoy."
Despite her hectic schedule, Gonzalez spends at least two hours a day in meditation and prayer — "trying to listen to myself," she says. "I believe in that. I think that everything comes from inside. You can't give what you don't have. I really work seriously on that.
"Life is life. I really think that it's your responsibility how to face everything because you can't control many things. The only thing that you really can control is how to see things, how to face them and deal with everything you have to deal with every day."
Sunny life
Her sunny take on life is reflected in her handbags, which are colorful, luxurious and fun to show off. Since launching her business 15 years ago, Gonzalez has built a loyal clientele that crave her latest looks. She produces more than 400 styles a year, manufacturing in her home country of Colombia, where she has built a thriving business with 400 employees.
Her son, Santiago Barberi Gonzalez, oversees sales, marketing, advertising, public relations and stores — "everything that has to be done but the bags," he says — while she concentrates on design and production. "I love production," she notes. "It's really a difficult part to develop everything — the colors, the materials. It's a long process and a huge challenge."
"I really have a lot to learn, but that never ends. All of the time we are looking for new things."
While colorful crocodile handbags have always been a mainstay of the brand, the collection in stores now also showcases flowers and kaleidoscope patterns, reflecting the tiles of the Moorish palaces in Seville, Spain. For spring 2015, the inspiration shifts to Venice, Santiago explains.
"In the 1430s, civilization was transformed from these two cities. In Seville, the New World was coming and in Venice the Renaissance entered. Venice has particular colors, terrazzo and Bellini, where oil painting was invented, so the colors are translucent and bright . . . . (and) it's all about the architecture of the floors. In Rome you look at the ceilings. In Venice you look at the floors."
Nancy Gonzalez really can't explain her success — "To be honest I don't know. I think it's a miracle. A lot of work. A lot of help from God," she says — but she concedes that she has created a product that women like.
"It helps that I'm a customer. I know they we all need different things, new things, surprises and beautiful things. But at the same time they have to function. Not heavy things where you put a lot of things inside. I think that helps.
"And listening to the customer who has a lot to teach me. I really have a lot to learn, but that never ends. All of the time we are looking for new things. The most important part is the emotion. It's something that attracts you that makes you want to have something."
A floral dotted handbag is a centerpiece of a display of Nancy Gonzalez clutches.
Agua by Agua Bendita, the beloved Colombian brand known for its hand-embroidered artistry and deep reverence for Latin American culture, will debut is Spring/Summer collection in Houston. Photo courtesy of Agua by Agua Bendita/Facebook
