BRANDS TO KNOW: VAVVOUNE
Photography: Nabila Wirakusumah
Creative Direction & Production: Bianca Jean-Pierre & Nabila Wirakusumah
Valerie Blaise, founder of leather accessories brand Vavvoune, describes someone who wears her designs as curious, intentional, and knows what they want. We could feel these qualities immediately as we stepped into the Vavvoune studio in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Beautifully constructed leather bags graced the shelves complimented by vintage references to Valerie’s Haitian roots and interior decor that could be considered art themselves.
As we chatted with Valerie for almost an hour, we realized she’s a unique business owner who has not only secured partnerships with Christian Siriano, Nordstrom, and Shopbop, but remains successful while still prioritizing her intuition and rest. By proudly preserving her Haitian heritage through Vavvoune and resisting the relentless pressure to hustle and grind, Valerie is a prime example of doing business on your own terms.
Valerie Blaise in conversation with Bianca (SHEER Founder) and Nabila (SHEER Creative Director).
Bianca: Let's start from the beginning. Tell us a little bit about how you grew up and how you started creating.
Valerie: I’m Haitian. I grew up in Haiti and was born there. I moved to Boston when I was nine years old with my immediate family: my mom, my dad, my sister, and my brothers. My grandfather was already living in the U.S. so we moved with him. Ever since I was a little bitty girl, I've always been a very creative kind of rebellious type.
Bianca: What was something rebellious you did?
Valerie: So my brother and I are the middle children...
Nabila: Me too. It’s a specific complex haha.
Bianca: Tell me more about the middle child complex. I'm the youngest so I don’t know…
Valerie: I feel like we were more adventurous and very curious. And we were protected on both ends. I had my older sister looking out for me and then my younger sister who's just kind of spoiled. We weren't paid attention to that much but not in a bad way.
Nabila: The joke is that the middle child is a little neglected. So if you aren't paying attention, I'm gonna be out here doing whatever the fuck I want.
Valerie: And that's so funny that you said that because no one was paying attention to us. One time, my brother and I set the house on fire in Haiti. We were curious, like what's gonna happen with these matches…
Nabila: Omg!
Bianca: What?!
Valerie: Somebody came in and saw what was happening and stopped it and told our parents.
Bianca: Wow. How old were you?
Valerie: I was still in Haiti but I don't remember what age. Maybe five or six.
Bianca: So once you left Haiti, and you came to Boston, how was that transition for you as a kid?
Valerie: I remember this so vividly. When we moved, after a couple of months, I remember asking my mom, “When are we going back to Haiti?” Everything was so different and it just felt eerie and strange and not familiar.
I thought that we were just visiting because my dad would go back and forth from Haiti to Boston all the time. He was a businessman and I thought we’re just visiting to see what dad's up to in America. We had so much in Haiti; we had family, we had friends, we had my parents and the shop. So when my mom said we're staying, I was like, oh, this is different. We had to make so many adjustments.
Bianca: And when did you get into a routine of feeling empowered in this new space?
Valerie: My dad was my safe space because he was living in Boston since he was 14 years old. So there were things that he was telling us to do and not to do, and places to go or not to. But he also allowed us to explore. My parents weren't really strict at all.
Bianca: Usually Haitian parents have a reputation of being very strict and overprotective and your parents were actually the opposite.
Valerie: Yeah, they were the opposite. I feel like my parents, especially my mom, was a breath of fresh air because even in Haiti, they weren't really strict either. They wanted us to explore and trusted us enough.
Bianca: How was it at school?
Valerie: I remember, we tried different schools to see what works but school was interesting. I don't hear this being talked about enough but Haitians in the 90s had it bad. We had it really bad. We were not accepted.
Bianca: Yeah. And I feel like they put a lot of Haitian kids, at least in public schools in Brooklyn, in special education classes because of language and cultural barriers whether the kids actually had disabilities or not. They would kind of like lump that all together.
Valerie: Yeah, it was bad. Like Haitians had it bad and I still don't understand to this day.
Nabila: Do you have a sense of why?
Valerie: I think it's what society says about being the first black nation and the stigma that comes with that. But to be honest, I don't know.
Bianca: You mentioned your dad was an entrepreneur too. With your parents being entrepreneurs, did they encourage you to explore that?
Valerie: My parents didn't really encourage me to be an entrepreneur. It literally just came out of nowhere. I've always wanted to make bags and sell my bags, but I didn't really think I'm going to be a businesswoman. It was a creativity thing for me. I just wanted to make things and if people like them, they can buy them.
I feel like there is an entrepreneur lineage in my family because my grandmother was a fabric vendor in Haiti. She would sell fabric on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and she was really, really successful. She transferred her wealth, so because of her we had the store and my grandfather was a mechanic too. But they didn't tell me I had to do this. It was just something that came to me.
“I don’t hear this being talked about enough but Haitians in the 90s had it bad. We had it really bad. We were not accepted.”
Bianca: How did you manage staying connected to your Haitian culture and lineage with coming to the U.S.? Did you leverage that to launch your creative pursuits or did you ever feel like you had to shy away from your culture?
Valerie: I remember when I came here, I was always very proud to be Haitian. My mom was always more prideful than my dad of being Haitian. My mom was in that spirit of us still being raised in a Haitian household even though we moved. My mom to this day still has never cooked an American dish.
I also remember I had this best friend I met in middle school and I knew she was Haitian because of her last name. She didn't say it to me, but I knew. I went to her house and met her mom who’s Haitian, of course. So later that day, her mom offered to drive me home. One of her friends from school saw us in the car and greeted us and my friend’s mom was like, “Hey, how are you?” with her accent. The next day we were in class and the friend that saw us said, “It was good to see you yesterday. Your mom's accent is so thick.” And my friend goes “Oh yeah, it’s the Trini in us.” I will never forget that day. It blew my mind. That's how bad it was to even say that you were Haitian.
Bianca: Are you still friends with her?
Valerie: No, we grew apart.
Bianca: Well I hope she's telling people she's Haitian now…
Shifting to career goals, did you know what path you wanted to take after high school? Was it college or did you want to create?
Valerie: I knew I wanted to do something in fashion. I didn't know what it was.
In high school I was the girl that would always dress up and have new items and people would always ask “Where did you get this style? It’s so different.” At the time I ruled out making clothing because it felt too intricate, but maybe in the future.
Bianca: Maybe we’ll get some Vavvoune outerwear in the future? Like a leather/shearling combo?
Valerie: Yes, I love leather. That’s why I got into handbags.
Nabila: In terms of mediums and materiality, what is your relationship to leather?
Valerie: I love leather. Leather is what guided me to start making bags. I believe in it so much. I think it's sustainable as hell. I don't care what anybody says. My favorite is vegan leather.
Nabila: Which can be like plastic?
Bianca: That was the craziest rebrand when we started calling that “vegan.”
Valerie: The marketing is so crazy because we think that is vegan leather. But there are vegan leathers out there like mushroom that still need more years to see what it can do. But leather has been around for so long and it's such a fascinating material. There are so many types of leathers and so many ways you can use it.
Nabila: When did you start using leather as a medium?
Valerie: I got into leather handbags after I bought this bag online from a vintage seller when I was like 19 or 20. And when the bag arrived, it was not what I was expecting it to be. I thought it was going be a little clutch, but it was actually a huge bag. It was stunning and the leather was just amazing. And I still remember getting the bag and opening it and being like, “Oh my God.” I still remember that feeling.
Nabila: Do you still have this bag and do you still wear it?
Valerie: I don't wear it now because every time I wear it, it kind of falls apart. I need to fix it.
“I feel like there is an entrepreneur lineage in my family because my grandmother was a fabric vendor in Haiti. She would sell fabric on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and she was really, really successful.”
Nabila: So after getting this bag, did you then go to the fabric district and find some leather and start experimenting? Or did you take classes?
Valerie: I started taking classes. I'm a very tactile designer. I love to use my hands. I just love to touch materials and move my body.
Bianca: You were mostly self-taught, right?
Valerie: Yeah, I started to take classes but that was after I began watching YouTube videos on leather and how to construct a bag out of leather. Just the fundamentals of working with bags and craftsmanship.
Bianca: There are so many serendipitous moments where things kind of just happen in our lives and spark our creative passions, like you stumbling across this vintage bag that was even better than what you expected. Were there other moments with Vavvoune where you just knew you were on the right path and this is what you’re meant to do?
Valerie: I think so. I think my relationships with my with distributors and manufacturers were kind of serendipitous moments because they've guided me in such an unconventional way to build my brand. And there were so many things that were unconventional in my life like “How did I get here?” Everything just worked out so perfectly for me like dropping out of college.
Bianca: What year did you drop out?
Valerie: First year.
Nabila: What school?
Valerie: I went to Fisher College in Boston, a private college. And then I tried to go back to a community college. I went to community college for two weeks and was like no, it's not for me.
Bianca: When you started your brand, there's still the business side which isn't so fun. How did you find your manufacturers? For people who don't know any of this and aspire to find their own…
Valerie: So everything was very unconventional. I found manufacturers by literally walking around the Garment District and asking, “Do you know who can make leather bags? Do you know who can help me construct this?” And they’ll tell me this person and I'll go to that person and then they'll tell me another person can do it at this price. It was just a bunch of footwork and getting into people's faces asking for help.
Bianca: And people were willing to help too, which is great.
Valerie: A lot of people were willing to but at the beginning, not so much. Because at that point, I wouldn't even really call myself a business owner.
“Business is a journey. It’s not really a destination. You have to really enjoy your journey.”
Bianca: Did you have the name at that point and the brand?
Valerie: Yeah, I had the name and I had the brand. But during that time, this was around like maybe 2014 or 2016, some of them were not taking me seriously. They're working with much bigger brands. They’ll help you but you're not a priority. So it was a bunch of calling and texting them and making sure that I’m on their mind.
Bianca: Did you have initial investors or were you funding this production by yourself?
Valerie: Yes. I used to be a cocktail waitress. Six years. And that's what funded my life and Vavvoune.
Bianca: So you moved to New York by this point?
Valerie: When I started making bags I was already in New York.
Nabila: Where did the name Vavvoune come from?
Valerie: It's a nickname. When I was growing up in Haiti, all my relatives used to call me Vavvoune. And when we moved to the States, no one was calling me that and I was like where did Vavvoune go? We're not leaving her back in Haiti.
Bianca: Nah she’s coming back with us as a handbag haha.
Did your friends and family start buying the bags? How did you start getting the bags out there?
Valerie: I used to show my friends and the people that I work with and would wear the bags. People would say “Oh, that's really cute,” and my friends began to buy them. And sometimes I would offer to make certain bags. I wanted to practice my skills. I realized people are really paying $300 for my bags so let's see what we can do here.
Bianca: How did you go from that to Vavvoune being on Shopbop and Nordstrom? Like that’s crazy.
Valerie: 2018 is when I became a business and registered my business name.
In 2018, I began working with manufacturers and distributors and got my LLC. In 2019, I started to gain momentum. I remember I did Essence Fashion House in 2020 and people were really, really interested in Vavvoune. And of course during 2020, there was the black business boom. I started to get attention and momentum and that's how Shopbop and Nordstrom happened. And even before that, Christian Siriano reached out about wanting to do a collaboration.
Nabila: Wow, how did he find you? What was that story?
Valerie: He bought one of the little wallets. I remember thinking, “Should I send it to him? Should I fulfill this order?” Because sometimes people steal ideas from smaller designers…
Bianca: I wouldn't have even thought about that! Wow…
Valerie: After a week, I just decided to send it. If anything happens, I'll just say something.
Bianca: Yeah, he seems very genuine. I feel like he acts with his values and has integrity.
Valerie: Yeah, integrity is there. He keeps his word. He's a really, really great person.
Two weeks after he got the wallet, he reached out and said he really liked the quality and the design is great. He asked if I would like to collaborate with his collection.
Nabila: That's huuuuge.
Valerie: We exchanged numbers and then we exchanged designs.
Bianca: How did you feel in that moment with everything you went through to build this?
Valerie: I was like oh my God he really recognizes the product is a good product and the quality. I used my hands to build this brand and when I work with manufacturers, I'm always making sure the edges are right and I don't like it to be crooked and I’m detail-oriented. And when he mentioned craftsmanship, I was like, oh he gets it.
Bianca: I love that. And looking at your brand marketing too, the photos on your website are stunning. Walk us through what inspires you outside of the craftsmanship and how you decide to share the Vavvoune story?
Valerie: I'm really inspired by my life experiences and what I feel internally and intrinsically. It just comes out in images. There aren’t enough words for it. It's just how I feel and what comes naturally. What do I want the Vavvoune customer to exude?
Nabila: Do you know if you're designing for yourself? Or is there a type of person in your mind?
Valerie: She is very curious. She is a savvy consumer who knows what she wants. When she buys something, she's intentional with what she's buying. She's artistically inclined. She lives in a space that’s progressive. She's confident and she's sure about what she wants.
Bianca: Do you have your own personal practice whether it's spiritual or just something that gets you to that place to be open to receive those messages and that inspiration?
Valerie: I'm a huge meditator. I'm not like a guru though, but I do it every day. I'm very spiritual.
Nabila: What you've talked about in terms of how you make your creative decisions and talking about your schedule is about following your intuition which I think is a very feminine-like energy. And apparently the structure of a 24 hour day and being really regimented and structured is based on the male body clock whereas the female body is going through a monthly cycle.
Valerie: Absolutely! That’s what I’ve recognized too.
Bianca: Another layer to that is Western culture versus everyone else. Even you talking about slowing down made me think about your Haitian roots and the slower pace that you find on the islands. Your grandmother was an entrepreneur in Haiti so I'm imagining entrepreneurship there versus what we're taught here which is wake up at 5am, drink eight gallons of water, go to the gym, and you’re ready to be an entrepreneur or be successful. And you’re like actually, I meditate and slow down instead.
Valerie: I’m just very intuitive. If something is not working out at this time, let's find something else. I’m just very free flowing.
Bianca: And that's a good thing. That's how those big opportunities come your way.
Valerie: Thank you. And when I was growing up, I remember my mom would always prioritize rest. Like, you don't feel like going to school today, it’s okay. This might sound bad but…
Bianca: Your mom is a legend.
I also wanted to talk to you about social media and the black business boom. Is there pressure to always have something new going on? How do you balance your values and the demands of not only being an entrepreneur but also a creative in this digital world?
Valerie: I'm so happy you asked that because this year I've told a couple of retailers no, I'm not doing this. I'm pacing myself this year. And maybe next year too, because things have been happening so fast. I’m grateful for it and I appreciate it so much, but I realized things have to slow down. It’s like yeah maybe I can get some money, but if it doesn't feel right, I'm not doing it.
Nabila: I feel like that's from your mom being like, trust yourself. That's priceless.
Bianca: For creatives of color, opportunities are so few and far between and that can make it tempting to do things for money. It’s admirable that you do what feels right to you.
Valerie: Yeah, you have to in business. There's really no protocol. I feel like society says when you have a business you have to do it like this and you have to do it like that. There isn't really a protocol anymore. In 2023, people can make one product and that one product will be the product that scales them and makes them a lot of money. There are so many different routes to take now.
And business is a journey. It's not really a destination. You have to really enjoy your journey.
“ I’m just very intuitive. If something is not working out at this time, let’s find something else. I’m just very free flowing.”
Bianca: And that's why I love your bags because you can buy one and know you're gonna have it for a long time. Something that you can really cherish. That’s also sustainable too, because slowing down is good for your mental health but also good for the environment.
Valerie: Talking about sustainability, the leathers that we use for Vavvoune are actually deadstock leathers left over by ultra luxury brands.
Bianca: Wow, that’s fascinating.
Valerie: Sometimes with the leather the color is off or there's like a small defect or a wrinkle because it's skin so it's going to have little marks on it.
Bianca: I like that. I think that adds character to it.
Valerie: I just want to change this negative narrative on leather that people are having. Like what are we going to do with the skins that are left over.
Bianca: What are you excited about for Vavvoune’s future?
Valerie: I'm just excited to tap into new product assortments. I'm launching a postcard deck* and I'm excited for that because it's something that I wanted to do for years. I think that it's so great because people are going to have a little piece of Vavvoune and the brand's DNA in their home.
I'm excited that things are slowing down for me so creativity can just flow in.
*Editor’s Note: Vavvoune’s latest postcard deck launched in November and you can check it out here.
