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Designer Caroline Rocha feels more like a kid painting than an artist at work when she creates her hand-painted leather cuffs adorned with Swarovski crystals. She finds inspiration all around her: the bright city lights, the blonde country side hills, a West Coast sunset, from friends to family, and in God. In getting to know her better as we get ready for JA New York, we also discovered that when Carolin is around, you better hide your candy!
JA New York: How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar with it? Give us your “elevator pitch!”
Caroline Rocha: All Caroline Rocha creations are original works of art. Each piece is never duplicated. I hand paint designs on high quality leathers, and each design is crystalled by hand. Our work is very intentional from start to finish, i.e, each leather is handselected, cut to a specific size, hand-painted, and each crystal is intentionally placed to best enhance the painted work. Our products are 100% USA made, and are not mass-produced in any way.
JA New York: Do you have a particular wearer in mind when you are designing?
CR: The clientele I collect tend to be independent women with an artful eye, enjoying to set themselves apart as individuals with hand-selected and noticeable items (i.e, “Statement pieces).
JA New York: What is your biggest source of inspiration?
CR: My personal relationship with God is my greatest source of inspiration.
JA New York: What is the first thing you do when waking up?
CR: I first take care of my husband, children, and dogs, and after that, I look forward to entering my studio and painting. My painting is most exciting to me. Ideas bubble throughout the night, so my paintings often reflect these ideas. Painting is a calming release for me.
JA New York: What is the last thing you do every day?
CR: I review my emails and customer feedback on social media. Making sure details are carefully handled is important to me, and I sleep best when all is taken care of.
JA New York: What was your biggest fashion faux pas?
CR: Gosh, there were so many! From some unfortunate makeup experiments in high school, to some low-cut bellbottom jeans I never want to see again! Specific to my business, however, I occasionally found myself doing things people “felt I should do” and going outside my personal creative focus in designs, e.g., accommodating certain trends, rather than continuing to be my authentic artist self.
JA New York: Who was your favorite teacher (in school or in life?)?
CR: My favorite teacher was my father, a successful businessman and a gifted artist in his own right. Dad never used his artistic abilities as a business for himself, but he gave me so much of his focus when I worked on my art, I felt adored and supported by him. These are some of my most cherished childhood memories.
JA New York: What is your guilty pleasure?
CR: Sweets! Specifically, eating all the candy I can sneak away from my kids (chocolate with nuts!) and enjoying a slice of pie whenever I can get it.
Registration for JA New York Spring is now open! Use this link to register to attend. Your JA New York badge will also give you access to MJSA Expo and the Antique Watch and Jewelry Show, LUEUR, which are co-located at the Javits Center.
