With over four decades of combined experience in meaningful and creative commercial interior design, along with award-winning, patented product design, in Fall 2016, Karen Hansen and Laura Rachlin launched Wren & Roch handbags, proudly made in New York City, with a mission to empower victims and survivors of rape, domestic violence, and childhood sexual assault.
Karen and Laura, both graduates of Florida State University with Bachelor of Science Degrees in Interior Design, founded in.design, inc., a commercial interior design firm, in 2001. While the path to the women's professional success has been awe-inspiring, life behind the scenes holds a very different story. In college, both were victims of rape, one resulting in pregnancy. They continued on, graduating at the top of their program, even with a one-year-old in tow; which turned out to be one of life's greatest blessings.
As their careers rapidly progressed and the journey of motherhood gave the gift of five children, they were each dealing with domestic violence at home and discovered that one of their children had been sexually abused by a spouse they trusted.
Today, Karen and Laura refuse to carry the burden, shame or embarrassment of rape and abuse. Instead, they carry their courage with their heads held high. They shift the ownership of those heavyweights to those who violated them and their loved ones.
They now stand strong as survivors, grateful for every experience that has brought them to be where they are today, compelled on a mission to empower other victims and survivors and wholeheartedly spread the message of awareness and prevention.