6oz

Davie & Chiyo – Clutches to have… and never let go of!

kirstenfbailey | Shopping, Uncategorized | February 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

Alright, before I go off, blabbering and bragging about how I have one of these clutches and how they are so amazing and how much I love them because they are beautiful and unique and… ugh. I knew I didn’t have it in me to last that long.

MINE!

But in all seriousness for a second, I fell in love with Davie & Chiyo clutches when I first saw one under the arm of a friend. Upon further inquiry, I discover that the clutches are actually hand made by a coworker, Fumi Bull. Unbelievable.

After doing a little more research and pelting questions at Fumi, I realize quickly that I needed to write a post about this local designer. The result is the following interview. In keeping with the content of this blog, I asked her to tell us a story and make it personal and she delivered. I can pretty much hear her talking when reading the following answers, and so can you if you imagine the voice laced with a little french/japanese accent. You may as well face it Fumi, it’s there. Embrace it.

On the basics

Q: Who is Davie & Chiyo

My name is Fumi Bull and my sister, who is my partner for Davie & Chiyo is Himi. I am 24 years old and my sister is 26 and is married with two little kids, Alexandru and Andrei! (three and one, respectively)

We currently live in Vancouver, Canada, the most beautiful city in the world, but we spent the first half of our lives in Tokyo, japan. Making us fully multicultural from inside to the outside!

Davie & Chiyo, is a brand new Etsy shop, just opened at end of January, 2009. We also have a complementary webshop, which we also opened at the same time. I keep a blog in my webshop about the challenges and excitements of owning a little business, if anyone wants to know more about us! (www.davieandchiyo.com/blog/)

We decided to open up this shop on Etsy after we saw the huge market out there for pretty clutches! But it all started last year, when Himi started making bags and hats as something that she was able to do at home while raising two children. Me on the other hand, having just graduated from a university with a business degree, was eager to apply my new found knowledge in real life! So we started talking and and bit by bit the ideas behind this shop came together. And few months later, here we are, shop open, blog running, and being interviewed!

Q: What is your product and the vision behind it?

Our product is luxury and personalized clutches. Now, the vision behind it all, is more complicated. Our vision, at the end of the day, is customer service. We want to produce clutches that are as perfect as they can be but at the same time, getting to the consumer’s hands in the most efficient, the most friendliest way possible. It is not only about making a sale. Our vision doesn’t stop when we create a product nor sell a product. Our vision keeps going until the consumer is happily going around the city, admiring her perfect clutch!

Q: What sets you apart from the rest of the pack?

Clearly our AMAZING sense of style sets us WAY apart from everyone else! lol. But honestly, I think our young energy and our drive for perfection definitely shines through to our products. We have so much energy to do as much as we can, as well as it could possibly be done. This allows us to keep coming up with new styles of products as well as new ideas for marketing and business strategies to always aim higher and bigger. I think it’s this whole package that sets us apart from others.

On Japanese culture:

Q: You lived in Japan for 10 years, you use silk from Japanese Kimono’s and you
recycle Japanese newspaper for wrapping and packaging your products. How much
of an influence does the Japanese culture have on your product and your business?

Japanese culture definitely has a huge impact on our product as well as everything else supporting our products. From beautiful vintage kimono in our products to scraps of Japanese news paper here and there, visually, the influences are everywhere. But it is more than that, a lot more. What we take from the Japanese culture is their perfectionism, and their strict attention to detail. Every clutch we produce has to be perfect. Otherwise it is not on the market. And then comes the packaging. If anyone has ever been to Japan, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. They do such an amazing job packaging that you don’t even want to open the package! We want the consumers to enjoy their whole experience.

On Green Policies

Q: Why is it important to you that your business is as eco‐friendly as possible?

In this day and age, you can’t not be eco-friendly! And I mean this for day-to-day life for everyone. You have to be aware of everything you do and it affects the environment. It is everyone’s responsibility and no one is exempt from that. And you have to be especially careful when it comes to your business. Not only is it not good publilicity otherwise, a business entity is using up more resources from the environment and creating more waste than an average human being. Therefore, you have to take extra caution to make sure it is doing eveything it can to not affect the environment in a negative way. But this is definitely easier said than done. This is because a business usually has one main goal in mind, and that is profits. And profits and environment almost never see eye to eye. This is where a lot of businesses fail to be socially responsible. It is up to you to decide what your values are.

Q: How does Davie & Chiyo stay as green as possible?

-upcycled materials for product making
-using paper bags and tissue paper wrappings that are made from recycled materials
-using cereal boxes for packaging
-using a 25 year old sewing machine!
-thinking of other ways to use wasted materials (such as old business cards or misprints)

On Business

Q: Where do you envision Davie & Chiyo clutches in 5 years?

5 years? I struggle to envision what it could look like in 5 monthes! It is changing and growing so rapidly, that the vision of the future seems to be always be a blurr! But one thing for sure, SKY is the limit. I believe that it could go where we want it to go. But it will be cool if in 5 years, I am walking around the city on the oposite side of the planet, and I see a girl skipping along ahead of me on the path, carrying … what? A Davie & Chiyo clutch!?! LOL.

Q: Where can people get their own personal Davie & Chiyo clutch or find out more
about your product?