Saben

History
Over the last seven years Saben has carved out a niche for itself as New Zealand’s top accessories brand. The handbag label is stocked by almost 50 retailers throughout New Zealand, Australia, and now Europe.

The brand is called “Saben” because that was Jacobson’s grandmother's maiden name. "It was a way of acknowledging the tremendous impact that she has had on my ideas about fashion," explains Jacobson. “To this day, she remains a classy woman who has been a real influence on me. The Saben brand is very much based on a romantic, old-fashioned idea of bag design, with a 21st century twist. I make pieces that I imagine are like my grandmother used to have, but brought into this day and age with modern fabrics and construction techniques."

Saben bags have appeared regularly in the press, in publications such as Lucire, Cleo, She, New Idea, Sunday and Canvas. Roanne Jacobson has also received a lot of attention - being profiled in Fashion Quarterly, She, The New Zealand Herald and The Sunday Star Times, as well as appearing on television and on the Internet.

Celebrities with one or more Saben bags in their wardrobe include; Blondie's Deborah Harry, actress Liv Tyler from “The Lord of the Rings”, Niki Caro – director of “The Whale Rider” and stylist Rebecca Weinberg from “Sex and the City”. New Zealand "It girls" Carly Binding, Jaquie Brown and Kerre Woodham have all been known to wear Saben on occasion. And our latest Saben convert, Keisha Castle-Hughes, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in 2004 for her star turn in "The Whale Rider".

Designer
Roanne Jacobson was born in Sydney in 1973. In 1992 she moved from Australia to Auckland, New Zealand.

Jacobson graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College of Art & Design in 1995, majoring in painting.

She continued her studies at the Betzalel School of Art and Design in Israel, before heading to New York to make her name as an artist. When fame failed to materialise in the tough New York art world, Jacobson ended up tending bar for a living, and found herself in the unfortunate position of being broke in the Big Apple. Unable to indulge in her passion for buying bags, she did what any fine arts graduate would do, and made one of her own out of ribbons, buttons and beads she'd found in back street shops in the Manhattan clothing districts.

Her first attempt was stitched by hand and, in Jacobson's own words, was "a disaster". She borrowed a sewing machine from an aunt in Pennsylvania and had another go. She found however, that she still couldn't sew very well at all.

"I thought 'no, I need a machinist', so I came home!" she laughs. Jacobson returned to New Zealand in 1999 with the Saben name, and an idea for her first design.

Now, someone else manufactures her bags. "He is a skilled craftsman and can easily interpret the designs I come up with," Jacobson reveals. "His business is a family one, and Saben is his biggest customer.

The Saben brand grew in prominence throughout 2000, during which time Jacobson had a shop on Ponsonby Rd. She shared the space with graphic designer Adrian Hailwood, who has since launched a fashion brand of his own.

As to plans for the future, Jacobson just wants to keep on making quality accessories for herself and her customers. She even turned down an offer to become the designer of an international bag label in 2001 because she preferred to continue doing her own thing.