Cleobella: From Seal Beach to the world

Seal Beach entrepreneur Angela O’Brien shows some of her Cleobella line of clutches, handbags and women’s accessories that has grown into a thriving international business venture she and her husband Jim run out of their home on Marina Hill.

“Cleobella.”

Say the name three times fast and you may feel whisked away and having daydreams of exotic locales.

No one would be happier to hear it put that way than Angela and Jim O’Brien of Seal Beach. It’s the name of their business the couple launched in January of 2008. It features a unique line of handbags, purses and ladies accessories. They run it out of their Seal Beach home in the town’s Marina Hill section.

Down home, yes, but some famous personalities have been photographed toting Cleobella products. These include the three oldest Kardashian women from the reality TV show as well as Ashley Simpson and others of the Hollywood jet set.

It was an opportunity to take a jet plane around the world that set off the idea for Cleobella.

“We had an opportunity to buy airline tickets to fly around the world,” Angela O’Brien said. “As long as we kept moving in the same direction we could stop and visit a place for a while and then keep going.”

Cleobella products reflect the year the young couple spent following the sun o  n a trip that took them around the world. While Jim O’Brien enjoyed finding a host of exotic surfing spots, his wife took in the sights and became inspired to create the company whose products are catching fire in high-class boutiques around the world.

“We got married in 2005 and we decided we wanted to see the world,” Angela O’Brien said. “We rented out our home, left our jobs and traveled all through South East Asia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa and all through Europe, living in a VW van.”

According to the company’s literature, “It was the unknown land of Balinese culture that Angela O’Brien soon embraced.”

She realized she wanted to combine her background in the fashion industry and her traveling experiences and the artistry she witnessed.

O’Brien said the business has also allowed her to help some people in the “Third World” help themselves to a better life.

Most of the products are hand-made in Bali, Indonesia by skilled artisans. They are mostly made out of leather, hammered out one at a time and because there is no electricity use in the process, each design is unique. They are meant to be individual works of art.

The O’Briens have studied the techniques used by the Balinese people and the way different styles and artistic representations are worked into the products that give them an accent of the culture of the region.

Because the products are made in Bali, the O’Briens often visit their artisans and have become both friends and benefactors to them. Angela O’Brien said that while the business has been rewarding in many aspects, being able to improve some people’s way of life has been an experience all its own.

“I have seen some families who work for us who did not even have a bicycle to get around and now they are driving cars,” Angela O’Brien said.

Perhaps to an extent due to the exotic way Cleobella products are produced, by the time they are sold to a Kim Kardashian, there is a cost of doing business some may find expensive. However, many of their products are within the grasp of many.

The Cleobella name is branching out and O’Brien said the company is moving between 500 and 1,500 products a month.

“We are mostly a wholesale business,” O’Brien said.

It is also a home-based business.

“I love the fact that I get to be my own boss and have control of my time,” O’Brien said. “Meanwhile, I get to live here in Seal Beach and ride my bicycle around town to do simple errands.”

As exotic as Cleobella can seem, O’Brien says she tries to keep it a family business and close to her home and heart.

One example is the company’s name.

“It comes from my mother’s name Cleobell,” she said. “My family is from Seal Beach. My dad graduated from McGaugh Elementary School. I grew up in Huntington Beach but we are so glad to be living here in Seal Beach for about the last five years.”

O’Brien said it was her Seal Beach roots and her grandma Angela McCoy, who is a longtime Seal Beach resident, who inspired her creativity.

“I have been painting with her and learning about art since I was six years old. ”

O’Brien said that it is her husband and his business acumen that have also helped make her dream of Cleobella a success.

“He is my go to guy,” she said. “It is so good to be able to lean on him and his knowledge of business to help make this all happen,” she said.

For more information about Cleobella and its products, go to the Web site www.cleobella.com.