DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu entrepreneur Janice Tepley Wright creates custom, beaded handbags and smaller accessories that can sell for as much as $2,000.
Janice Tepley Wright has
turned an intricate hobby
into a lucrative business
A fascination with Faberge eggs, the fabulous bejeweled masterpieces first created for the czars of Russia, started Janice Tepley Wright into a hobby turned full-fledged -- and high-end -- business.
Now the Wright Collection, a line of custom-made evening bags and accessories, is 6 years old. Wright's bags can sell for as much as $2,000, and are sought out by celebrities and other well-heeled customers.
They've also caught the eye of local clothing designer Anne Namba, who carries them in her store.
"They are beautifully made and she's the nicest and most generous person to work with," Namba said.
Namba also commissions bags to match her clothing designs. "I actually sell quite a few pieces during my shows on the mainland," she said.
Wright taught herself how to make the bags after seeing some of the work of designer Judith Leiber, now 88 years old, whose bags are carried in such stores as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue on the mainland.
Wright searched out the materials she needed -- evening bags, glue, crystals and a bag supplier -- on the Internet.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu entrepreneur Janice Tepley Wright creates custom, beaded handbags and smaller accessories that can sell for as much as $2,000.
She began by taking classes on making eggs using styrofoam shapes decorated with sequins and beads. Her first evening bag was made from an ostrich egg. Her first real crystal evening bag took two weeks to make.
Her business began to expand as friends placed orders and she was discovered by the owners of Lamonts Gift and Sundry, who began to carry her work in their stores, which are in high-end resort hotels nationwide.
But once business began to expand, it was time to pass on her skills.
Wright taught each person she hired how to do the intricate beading. There are now four who do the beading work and two artists who create the initial design for each bag.
Once the design is completed, Wright and her team begin the labor intensive detail work of applying thousands of brilliantly-colored Austrian Swarovski crystals by hand. Each bag may employ anywhere between 4,000 and 6,000 crystals. Once it is completed, Wright does the final inspection and ships the bag to its new owner.
"I check every single piece, package and organize it to go out, so I'm in charge of quality control," she said.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Each of Janice Tepley Wright's bags feature between 4,000 and 6,000 crystals. Wright, or one of her team of workers, applies each bead by hand.
The metal shells or basic shapes for each bag come primarily from Italy and China and arrive with hand-woven chains. Their interiors are lined either in gold leather or black velveteen.
Wright's bags -- along with other accessories such as lipstick holders, compacts, business card holders, miniature clocks, picture frames and xmas ornaments -- are sold primarily in high-end resort stores and boutiques in eight states, including Hawaii.
In Hawaii, the bags can be found in stores in hotels such as the Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton Waikiki and Kahala Mandarin Oriental. On the neighbor islands, Lamonts sells the bags in resorts such as the Big Island's Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Sheraton Princeville on Kauai and The Westin Maui.
Not long ago, the company had its first sale via the Internet when a lady from Virgina sent a picture of a dress and a swatch of material and asked for the bag to be express mailed to Dallas in time for a special party she was attending.
Wright said she sells about 200 evening bags a year as well as hundreds of the smaller accessories.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu entrepreneur Janice Tepley Wright creates custom, beaded handbags and smaller accessories that can sell for as much as $2,000.
Bag shapes can vary from a standard clutch to butterflies, tigers, bears and fish.
One of her stranger requests came in several years ago from England to make 300 elephant pillboxes for an Indian wedding taking place in Spain.
While Wright was teaching herself how to make the bags, she struck up a business relationship and friendship via the Internet with an Italian manufacturer who still supplies many of the bag shapes. He sent her pictures of his bags and a price list.
It's a friendship that is renewed every year when Wright goes to Italy to check out the latest designs. It will be six years in December when she sent out her first e-mail requesting assistance in buying metal Italian-made evening bags.
"When I travel, I'm always looking at bag shapes, shoes, clothes, colors, designs and jewelry. All those things have an impact on the bags," she said.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Janice Tepley Wright was inspired to try her hand at beading by a love for Faberge eggs, the bejeweled masterpieces first created for the czars of Russia.
Wright is often accompanied on trips to Italy by her husband, Chatt Wright, president of Hawaii Pacific University. The couple married 10 years ago when Wright, who was a Realtor in her native Montana and Hawaii, was broker in charge at a local real estate firm.
After meeting and marrying "Mr. Wright," she completed her masters in business administration at HPU.
Wright says her husband offers advice about the business, but doesn't get directly involved.
"He's been a good sport about it and has been very supportive," she said.
While working is no longer a necessity for Wright, she is clearly a woman who has found her métier.
"While real estate was my career for 21 years, this is my passion," she said. "I had the luxury that I didn't have to work anymore so it allowed me to be more creative."
It's not unusual for Wright to catch a glimpse of one her creations around town when she and her husband are attending a social function.
"It's fun for me to go to these black tie events and see people with my bags," she said. "Usually I see the bags first and know who owns it."
