Frank LaMendola , who grew up in North Haledon and now lives in Wayne , loves design work . He was drawing and sketching “ from the time Icould hold apencil ,” he says . After an art teacher saw his renderings offashion figures and recommended that he apply tofash- ion school , he studied at Traphagen School of Fashion , Fashion Institute of Technology , and Parsons School of Design , all in Manhattan . His first job doing sketches for ahandbag illustrator quickly led to continuous work in handbag design . Recently , hehas been styling anew collection under the LODIS brand that can befound at Nordstrom , Macy ’ s , QVC and other outlets .

In the early 2000s , LaMendola branched out and launched abusi- ness called Flowers and Events from the Ground Up , for which he created decors and sometimes cooked .“ Italian families are always about food , especially during the holidays ,” he says . “ I began baking as achild with mymother , father and relatives .”

He posted photos of his ambitious gingerbread houses and other treats on social media , and in spring 2021 was contacted by reps of companies casting for two different cooking shows . Last summer , he found himself competing in

FRANK LAMENDOLA

Season 3 of Food Network ’ s Holiday Wars . LaMendola helped his team , which made it to the show ’ s semifinals , design over-the-top cakes on five episodes . They can now be seen on Amazon Prime .

Here are 8 things you should know about Frank LaMendola .

HE HAS DESIGNED ALL TYPES OF BAGS . LaMendola says he ’ s worked on every type of handbag , from affordable bags available at Kmart and Walmart to men ’ s and women ’ s luxury lines . But his designs aren ’ t limited to humans : He ’ s also helped create bags for carrying pets . “ It ’ s a huge category , and it ’ s becoming bigger ,” he says .

HE DESIGNS WITH FUNCTION IN MIND . LaMendola says that while his bags have to look and feel good , they must be functional , too . To find out what women need , he asks friends

and acquaintances why they chose the bags they bought . “ They ’ ll say , ‘ It ’ s not heavy ,’ or ‘ It has a strap Ilike ,’” hesays .

HE LEARNED THAT EVEN CELEBRITIES CAN HAVE A HARD TIME BREAKING INTOTHE BUSINESS . Around 2009- 2010 , LaMendola says , celebrity brands of perfume , fashion and other goods were very popular . He was hired to design handbags for House of Dereon , the brand launched under Beyoncé ’ s name and whose creative director was Tina Knowles , the singer ’ s mother . “ There was a certain eclectic , bling-y aesthetic and vibe that was already established when I got there ,” he says . But with celebrity brands from Gwen Stefani , Jennifer Lopez and others on the market , “ It was hard toget abrand out even under Beyoncé ’ s name .”

THE MINUTE HE ARRIVED AT THE

HOLIDAYWARS SET , HETHOUGHT ‘ THISISWHATIWANTTODO .’ When someone from Food Network first reached out in spring 2021 , LaMendola thought it was a scam . But things felt very real when he arrived in Utah to join two others to form the Three Pipers Piping team in hopes of making ittothe final rounds . LaMendola was brought in as filming began for Episode 3 , Season 3 .

“ They gave us criteria , and we had to visualize and execute the ideas based on them ,” he says .“ For ‘ A Wild Thanksgiving ,’ we had to come up with a cake that illustrated two animals in the animal kingdom who don ’ t get along , like some families on

HEADSHOT : COURTESY OF FRANK LAMENDOLA ; CAKE : COURTESY OF THE FOOD NETWORK

38 MAY 2022 WAYNE MAGAZINE