Our Materials

We work almost exclusively in lambskin nappa, knowing it to be the harder choice. Lambskin is softer than calf, falls better, takes colour more deeply and marks more readily. It is left largely unprotected, and that is what gives it its hand. A heavily finished leather is more forgiving to sell and less alive to carry. We decided in favour of the material rather than in favour of our own convenience.

Each bag is cut from a single skin. This is not efficient. A skin with a flaw in the wrong place yields nothing, and a shade sometimes reaches the shelf later than we would wish because of it. It is also the only way to be sure that colour, grain and fall run continuously across every panel of the same piece.

Our linings are genuine suede throughout, not fabric. At this level it is an unusual expense; most houses at our price line in cotton twill and put the saving elsewhere. Suede is quieter against the hand, holds its appearance far longer, and treats the inside of a bag as somewhere worth finishing properly.

Every lock from Aurea collection is cast on its own in Italy, handfinished there and plated in 18-karat gold. Solid brass carries weight in the hand, ages honestly, and can be re-plated decades from now. Plated zinc alloy, which is what mosthardware at this price actually is, cannot be recovered once the surface fails. The distinction is invisible on the day of purchase and decisive on every day after it.

Every edge is finished by hand, built up in several successive layers, each left to dry before the next is laid and burnished between passes. The rhythm is set by the material rather than by the artisan. Industrial finishing achieves the same appearance in a single pass, and the difference declares itself after a year of use, at the corners, where a one-pass edge begins to open. It is the first place a knowledgeable buyer looks, and it is why we spend hours there.