A quality leather story from Croatia.
Herman Design, a miniature Croatian design studio as it is described by its owner Kornelija Herman, is a place where unique leather goods, clothing and fashion accessories are created. The owner explains that she calls it miniature because she is the creator of the brand and the only employee, reports Poslovni.hr on January 3, 2016.
Herman Design offers handbags and wallets made of leather and high-quality eco-leather, “2-in-1” bags with interchangeable covers, “festival bags” which are bags with a holster for a bottle, and leather bracelets. Each product is designed with a print of a famous artist’s work, custom made print or design inspired by music, cinema or art in general.
“I am not inspired just by works of visual artists such as Klimt, Van Gogh, Dali, but also by well-known literary works, nature, travels, movies, rock and grunge. The idea was formed during my college years, but I decided to implement it when, after several years of working in telecommunications sector, I found myself unemployed. It seemed to me that it was the right time to return to design and use the knowledge I had since learned – about design and about communicating with people. I am still at the beginning and I believe that nothing which is permanent can be achieved very fast. For me, working eight hours a day never truly existed, and it does not exist today”, Herman says.
In the flood of similar products which can be found on the market, Herman Design seeks to create something special. Although personalization of products is nothing new, Kornelija Herman makes clear that she wants to create a connection between the designer and customer demands, and points out that every second of the time spent is worth it because customers can feel it. She immediately knew that without social networks she could not create a sufficiently large customer base and that without a web-shop she could not expect to sell a lot of products.
“The data shows that we have more than a hundred clients, mainly women of all ages. Many of the orders are based on recommendations by prior customers, who often return to buy something else as well. They want to have a different bag or a bracelet of a different colour or with different prints. This is what makes me particularly happy and motivated”, Herman explains.
Most popular products are her bracelets, and lately she has been selling quite a lot of wallets. The launch of any new product results in increased demand and the new product automatically becomes the best-selling one, although there are those products to which customers keep coming back.
Considering that she is a designer by profession, there is no lack of ideas. “It is well-known that, when you are doing it all by hand, making a product lasts longer and is more complex than usual. I do not care about trends and I try to produce things which will last. We must remember that people today are largely visual types. They buy things which are nicely presented, pleasing for their eyes. I have a lot of orders because many people have recognized the quality of my products, buy them and, most importantly, many return as satisfied customers”, concluded the owner of the Croatian brand.
