A sandwich board on the corner of North 73rd Street and Linden Avenue North, invites the curious to come in and discover Crystalyn Kae Handbags & Accessories. If you weren't specifically looking for the boutique/studio, you may mistake it for another apartment unit.
Built in 1902, the building housing the Crystalyn Kae has run the gamut of tenants: from a bar, to a grocery store, to a salon and, for the last three years, Crystalyn Kae accessories. The majority of space in the unassuming, blue building located a block west of Aurora, at 780 N. 73rd St., are apartments, with the shop sitting on the southeast corner.
Look for the window displays on each side of the entrance, showcasing owner Crystalyn Brennan's innovative designs of bags, totes, belts and pillows, draped by white Christmas lights and guarded by Corgan, her sleepy-eyed cat.
A relative newcomer to the area, 27-year-old Brennan has drawn in a devoted clientele to her welcoming shop.
A unique product
Brennan prides herself on creating unique designs and contrasting one or more vintage fabrics in an unexpected way: "I don't want to do the same thing as everybody else. I draft my own patterns and source my own fabrics."
Her crescent-shape, faux-leather clutches and hobo bags come in colors like "mariachi black," "Havana palm" and "Rio red." Her appliquéd totes can be found in a variety of colors and textures, each one embellished with a different vintage motif or floral.
She also keeps a wide array of vintage fabrics on hand for those who want to create their own bags.
When Genevieve Haggard moved to the neighborhood more than a year ago, she discovered Brennan's shop and, with Brennan's help, designed a bag for herself. " I was a little intimidated by how many choices there were, but [Brennan] was really helpful with the guidance and very accommodating. She will do pretty much anything to make sure a customer likes their bag."
Brennan also sells her own photographs, pillows, flower pins and handmade cards.
Finding her niche
More than half of Brennan's individual sales are due to people wanting to buy her vegan products. Not able to bare the idea of cutting into an animal hide, she said, she makes many of her bags to have the appearance of leather, by glazing and embossing the fabric.
"It's a growing niche," she explained, "and more and more people are becoming aware of that."
With little advertising - save a few vague flyers put up last summer, advertising a "purse sale"- Brennan relies on word-of-mouth, sporadic foot traffic and her website (crystalynkae.com) to stir up excitement about her vintage and vegan products.
Brennan started selling her products on-line more than a year and a half ago and "that has made all the difference," she said.
She also offers her items in different boutiques in Seattle, Portland, New York, San Francisco and Boston, as well as in Italy and London.
Getting started
With a degree in apparel merchandising and a bevy of ideas, Brennan quit her steady job in promotions, cashed in her 401K and sought out a design career. She started working with the Fremont Market.
She recycled her grandfather's eclectic collection of pants - palettes of plaids, stripes and other eye-catching motifs - to produce stylish bags.
She also sold handmade books and cards at Pike Place Market.
Eventually, Brennan's apartment was not big enough to hold all of her designs. So with the promise of reasonable rent and extra space to work, she relocated her workshop to its current location and opened business in April 2002.
"I didn't mean to have a store, so that's my excuse for being in a weird location," she explained.
The word "welcome" painted in yellow on the ceiling above the entrance is a reminder of the painting party and other group efforts of family and friends to renovate the former beauty salon into a showcase for her creations.
While her website and selling her products wholesale keep Brennan busy, having the store is her way of hearing and seeing what customers like and interacting with her neighbors.
Other customers simply come in to visit. Emma, a fourth-grader, stops by with her father after school to pet Brennan's cat.
With continuous visits of loyal customers, friends and the curious, Brennan is excited to have found a creative outlet for herself as well as a living: "I'm paying my bills, I get to go out to dinner every once in a while - it's really nice."
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