Function, flair go hand in handbag

ACCESSIBILITY: Nicole D'Andrea, design director and CEO of D'Andrea Handbags, displays some of her creations. D'Andrea tested the accessories with members of University of Rhode Island sororities. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
ACCESSIBILITY: Nicole D'Andrea, design director and CEO of D'Andrea Handbags, displays some of her creations. D'Andrea tested the accessories with members of University of Rhode Island sororities. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Nicole D’Andrea wanted her MacBook to fit inside her “Mr. Arrogant” handbag, one of several styles her company designs, so she put the zipper on the side.

“I try to keep the pieces stylish but classic and functional,” she said. “I want you to be able to use it. And then I just want girls to have fun with them.”

D’Andrea, 34, who is both design director and CEO of North Smithfield-based D’Andrea Handbags, started the business in 2009, launching operations in the fall of 2011.

Making the Mr. Arrogant handbag to suit a practical need taught D’Andrea a lesson in how to be true to herself and her vision, which includes creating accessories for women and, soon, men, that are stylish and versatile, she said.

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“The biggest thing I’ve learned in regard to design is to be myself,” said D’Andrea. “I don’t try to follow trends but use the design going on inside my head and make a functional piece.”

Besides adding men’s lines for accessories such as shoes, she has added bracelets to the jewelry she makes, and hopes to add charms for necklaces and bracelets as well as, eventually, apparel, she said.

D’Andrea attributes her success to her family, including her grandfather, the late Frank D’Andrea, and father, Frank D’Andrea Jr. She also relies on her brother Steven, who is a partner and chief operating officer for her company

Her relatives taught her the value of “hands-on” management, she said. D’Andrea, who has eight people on staff and four subcontractors, said she can jump on a sewing machine and make patterns just the way her employees do.

“Anyone we hire,” she said, “I want to know how to do their job. It makes a difference.”

A Smithfield native, D’Andrea studied fashion design at the International Academy of Design in Chicago, graduating in 2005. She interned for four months at BCBG’s Max Azria in Los Angeles.

In 2006, she spent six months at Ars Suttoria of Milan, a school for fashion design and pattern-making for shoes and handbags. In 2012, she settled on a factory to produce her creations, which she declined to name for proprietary reasons.

Along the way, CEO Tiffany Tuttle of LD Tuttle has been an important mentor. D’Andrea oversaw a handbag line for that firm in 2007-08, she said. The Los Angeles-based firm specializes in Italian-made women’s shoes.

“She gave me the opportunity to get hands-on experience working with a factory, which was really valuable,” D’Andrea said.

For now, D’Andrea wants to build her business so that her handbags become a lifestyle brand.

“I want to keep designing,” she said. “I’m very ambitious, so once we reach the goals we have now, I’m sure I’ll have more.” •

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