Is necessity truly the mother of invention?

Angelica Guajardo is living proof of it. A few years back, while working at an investment bank, the strap on Angelica's handbag broke. A friend gave her some velvet fabric to fashion a replacement strap, but Angelica, who had been making skirts for herself since her teens, ended up sewing a replacment pouch bag instead.

In the course of using it as her everyday bag, Angelica received numerous compliments from friends and strangers alike. Always a close follower of fashion trends, she realized that the feedback meant she was onto something. So in 1999, she formed a business to design and create original bags and women's accessories.

Today, her upscale creations range from small evening bags to full size totes of various shapes and sizes. She has also begun to expand her wares to include scarves and wraps, bridal accessories, and photo albums and date books.

Her signature lines are limited edition bags that are made from unique fabrics she finds during her frequent forays into resale and thrift stores. "I'm inspired by vintage fabrics, and I try to create bags that have 'stories' behind them, ones that used to be skirts or curtains," Angelica says.

Finding the base fabrics in those types of stores is what keeps her designs relatively limited. But even within each line, there are variations. Angelica selects trim and handle materials from mainstream fabric stores, sometimes, even flea markets, combining colors and textures that make each bag slightly different. She also trims each inside pocket differently than the one before it. "Whenever I'm travelling, I'll stop into small, funky stores along the way to see what they have," she says. "I like to use fabrics and textures that aren't on the market because that makes my designs tough to duplicate."

Among the materials she has used are bamboo, leather, suede, vinyl, beads and semi-precious stones, fringe, and faux furs. "I'll use the same shape for each limited edition of the bag, but I'll also change the mixture of the materials and incorporate different handles or trim," she says. "Sometimes just addding another color or texture to one bag will inspire me to create smaller clutches or handbags that are complimentary to it."

The Bay Area-based designer has clients along the West Coast, maintaining a focus on "cool boutiques" in urban and suburban markets. As her production needs increase, she'd like to expand her line to include "easy to wear, fashionable skirts and dresses that combine vintage styles with new fabrics and textures." So as her necessities increase, so too will her inventions.