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Biography of Becky C.

A little of the back ground - I come from a musical family (I myself play amateur flute), I raised a musical family and my Mother always donates to musicians on the street because she worries about her far away musical son not making enough money himself.

I have always loved to give home made gifts, although in the many years raising children, I did not have the time. – Except, of course, to give teachers home made cookies for years and years. All of a sudden when my kids got their drivers licenses, I had a little extra time on my hands and in a period of two years, I made home made purses of various kinds for 8 friends and relatives. I learned every which way one could construct a purse. Then one day, I was walking thru the craft store and saw a button that looked like a violin chin rest. I said to myself, I MUST make a violin purse, and Voila (not viola or that too) - everyone loved it. I called up a very classy violinist, and asked her if she liked my purse, as I am thinking of making them to sell on etsy. (Then when she actually took the time to come over I felt kind of embarrassed because you don’t need a PhD violinist from Julliard to judge a purse – but this woman is so classy and I wanted classy people to want my purse). She loved it so much, she said “I need this” and offered to pay me my full high asking price. I made her my product representative, and gave her one to test out. She made some practical changes so she could use it as a caddy to hold her violin strings, tuner and other musical paraphernalia. She brought it to symphony and hung it in her studio. She did not try to sell it, but absolutely every one that saw it loved it and asked where she got it. Of course the price was too high for most. It has taken many many months to develop my Violettes so that they are both more functional and more practical to produce than the very first one. I have a Masters degree in Engineering from Cornell University, so I have been trained to solve problems, although I don’t have professional seamstress training. I am an outside the box thinker, and too outside the box for some, but it works for this field.

The violinist kept asking me to make the purse bigger and bigger. It got big enough that a professional cellist wanted to buy one. (All the cellists that wanted my purse preferred the violin purses because of the extra bling, such as the beautiful chin rests out of many different kinds of buttons and pins). This cellist loaded the purse so full that it kept falling off of the music stand. So I developed the biggest ones to hang from a symphony style chair and have a clip to loop around the leg of the chair, such that it won’t swing when reaching into it with one hand.

Meanwhile I sold my hand made ones here and there. And I kept developing new ones. My mother asked me to make little ones for “Suzuki children”. My daughter went to a violin clinic when she was little, and the somewhat famous instructor asked her to “love your violin” as is needed to turn the notes into “music”. If little girls have cute little violin purses that hold rosin and their pencil, it might help them love their violins. The problem is they take just as long to construct, and so need to still cost quite a bit for a little kid, even with leaving out most of the pockets. I have made a number of the minis. The minis are also great for adults as small night purses. They are also nice as little fanny packs. I will eventually get these manufactured also.

So I started searching (with the help of my wonderful mentor from SCORE) for a manufacturer. Of course I wanted to make in America with recycled material. We are hard core environmentalists at our house with a big composting bin. This is not so easy or even possible for many reasons. A local professional in the purse field told me my only choice is to have them made in China. I kept on trying all over the USA. Finally I gave in temporarily, and found a South American connection. Still wanting to be environmentally conscious and wanting a made in America product, I have developed a simpler second product which is in the works to be made in America.

After being a stay at home Mom and volunteering at schools for so many years – the economy is not the best for getting back into an engineering career now that my kids are almost grown. Although I had been offered a job, it is so much fun to create and learn about the fabric industry. And to have a business excuse to travel to concerts is a great kind of a job! I love my Violette – I carry it everywhere.

Female, Born on November 17

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