An Interview with our Master Craftsman

Why is our product so special and rare? (eg. slouchy on outside but functional on inside. lightweight but lasting. Also lightweight despite significant construction)

Despite the complex external and internal manufacturing processes, our products are so special as we have chosen and used the right reinforcement materials with the right thickness in order not to stiffen but to sustain the bag. In this way, the products maintain a unique lightness and softness; they are slouchy on outside but functional on inside, lightweight but lasting. 

What are the artisanal craftsmanship methods we use to craft our products in order to achieve this realization?

Our products are characterized by one of the oldest tradition of leather goods craftsmanship: handmade grooves to highlight the details where there are no seams, handmade artisanal stitching to strengthen and give more prestige to certain details, a special edge paint process that allows to make the edges smooth and polished even when the leathers’ thickness might be an obstacle in the process.

What has been the most challenging part of developing our product?

There were two difficult challenges at the beginning of our products development: 

Combining the functionality with the pursuit of perfection in the manufactory techniques, where even 1 mm can make the difference; Making the bags slouchy while maintaining an internal defined structure.

What’s going on in the inside that may not be visible from the outside/ to the naked eye?

Inside all the products, not visible to the naked eye, there is essentially another universe. This is what I once defined as the “invisible luxury”. Our customer might not be aware of it, but we have taken the responsibility to put all our efforts to realize an impeccable product.

Tell us about the process to uniquely develop our materials

I simply tried to return to the origins to re-establish the ancient originality and nature of the materials. How? By using living, natural materials, and abandoning the chemical and artificial protections normally used that make leather similar to plastic.

Why are our suppliers so special?

All our suppliers share a common passion for their work and this, inevitably, flows into the special materials they produce.

How difficult is the process to get great quality natural skins?

It is difficult to stop the consumers’ belief of what visual perfection means. I like to say that some defects represent certain characteristics. The material of a bag should grow old naturally with us when we wear it, rather than remaining falsely motionless and static. In fact, whilst we grow old we are exposed to the sun, the wind, the cold, our skin and lips crack, we get wrinkles and so on. In other words, we live. And our bag lives with us.

Why are you so proud of our products? 

As I once mentioned: “ I feel very honoured to be part of this project and in each of every product we make. There is also a small part of me, my way of being, my personality, my sensitivity and a great passion that I have for this job “. And I shall end with a phrase of Vince Lombardi that well explains my obsession: “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can achieve excellence.”

What was the process like in coming to the final design (ex. the runaway concept)

You should have seen the first proto- it was overkill. We continued to reduce it and wear test it until it was reduced to perfection. We kept removing elements, replacing different ideas in order for it to work perfectly. The idea was not to overload it with functionality. It was meant to be intuitive and natural to use, nothing extra and nothing missing.

Materials/Hardware - sourcing details, why and how we chose them?

We selected our materials based on the absolute best- we took no compromises. We love natural materials. We do not like to cover our materials. We also uniquely developed our materials with each tannery. We did not take anything available but worked with each supplier in order to hone exactly what we wanted. Effortless, timeless, sophisticated yet relaxed. Each material needed to have its own personality and reason for being in the collection. Buffalo has a vintage feeling. Suede has a relaxed cool feel. Atelier is sophisticated and polished and gets better with every wear. Signature canvas is also very rare, the natural grain shines through the pattern.

Some other fun stories:

We wear test every product and also send every product to an Italian facility for extreme testing.

The process to create our signature canvas- it is natural and artisanal. This was something we uniquely developed. It stands behind our commitment to natural materials. We never took any shortcuts in any part of our development.

Achieving our Amarone colour was incredibly difficult. It took about 6 months of lab dips. That shade of red was nearly impossible to achieve. Too brown, too blue, too washed out. It was a lot of back and forth- but we were uncompromising.

We have a different level of thickness for every product for every material. Meaning the thickness used in the suede le grand voyage is different from buffalo which is different from atelier calfskin. This is because the materials each act differently, they have different bodies and different weights, so we had to counter balance that to achieve consistency across all materials. This is highly unusual.