When a typical teenage girl goes shopping, the only thing stopping her from having a full collection of accessories are the steep prices. Fed up with overpriced items, junior Claire Pollak decided to take matters into her own hands.
So began Pollak’s business, “Claire Ann.”
Pollak designs handbags and jewelry, and sells them on Etsy, a website where individuals can buy and sell handmade items. Pollak’s designs range from small drawstring pouches to fabric beaded necklaces with prices that range from $15 to $55.
Pollak became interested in design at a young age after watching her sister, who attended the Rhode Island School of Design, pursue fashion. She started making her own small accessories for her dolls and other belongings, like iPod cases. Drawing inspiration from “Project Runway,” she became interested in the “fascination of structure.”
“I like the construction of bags and the fabrics,” she said. “Turning something flat into something 3-D is so satisfying to me.”
To make her bags, Pollak uses a sewing machine that she’s been using since she was 8-years-old, and prices her creations based on the amount of effort and time they take to put together. When Pollak first began her business, she didn’t realize just how much consumers would pay for one of her designs.
“I got a phone call from a friend’s tutor asking if I would make her a bag,” she said. “When she came to my house to get the bag, she told me ‘I think you are underestimating the worth of your bags,’ and gave me a one hundred dollar bill. That was the first dollar I ever made, and I still haven’t spent it.”
Pollak bases the designs of her bags on popular styles or new fabrics she acquires. She purchases most of her fabrics from G-Street Fabrics.
“I like to juxtapose feminine designs and masculine designs,” she said. “For example, a feminine shape, but a masculine fabric; one time I used a suiting fabric but put lace on top of it to keep it feminine.”
Even though she draws inspiration from famous designers, her mother says that a lot of pieces are based on Claire’s own style and sense of fashion.
“I think she has a unique way of looking at things,” she said. “She can just look at designs and learn how to assemble something on her own.”
Pollak receives a lot of positive feedback from people of all ages.
“I feel like I’m doing something right if people my own age like what I make,” she said.
Her sister, Jessica said that Claire constantly pushes herself to produce work that feels fresh and technically more challenging to create.
“She has a fabulous eye for pairing prints together and I think people really respond to that in her work,” Jessica said.
Despite the large amount of satisfaction she gets from creating fashionable accessories, Pollack doesn’t see her business becoming a full time career.
“I know it’ll always be a hobby, if anything,” she said. “It’s such a release to close the door and just work. I don’t think it’s a realistic career for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not serious about it; I love fashion.”
Click here to access Claire’s designs.
