Craftspeople Prepare Their Wares For Weekend At Lyndhurst

Lower Hudson Online:

Suzanne Fonarow designs from what she knows. And she knows that working women want accessories that combine function with flair.

Today, she spends her time designing laptop cases and totes, along with a variety of other personal accessories, for her company, Lap Sack.

Back in 2004, Fonarow, a longtime executive in the fashion industry, was facing foot surgery around the time Alex was heading off to college.

He had asked her to create a laptop bag for him to take with him. Since she knew she’d be immobilized, she took quick action.

She made the envelope-style bag, and he took it with him - and had news on his first visit home.

“He said ‘Mom, everybody at school wanted to know ‘Can you make us one of them?’ ” she says.

And that’s how today, she finds herself expanding from those early envelope-style creations into a line that brings her to Lyndhurst for the first time.

Fonarow will be one of more than 300 artists and craftspeople participating in this weekend’s show, a festival of contemporary crafts, arts, music and food.