To create a leather goods brand and use exclusively seamless pieces of leather: is that doable? Yes, apparently: that is the story of Sébastien Cordoleani and the case of Archipel Paris, which evidence such feasibility. In 2016, Cordoleani, a young French architect, decided to combine his passion for “beauty and well-done objects” with the one for fashion. He therefore created a brand specialized in the manufacturing of leather accessories.
Matter to Think
Cordoleani had first entered the world of leather goods ten years before. In fact, in 2006, he had taken part in a project called “Matter to Think”. The aim of the project was to develop a product starting from raw material (he had eventually opted for leather) rather than from a sketch drawn on paper. In other words, going through a reverse process.
Lack of technical expertise
An obstacle, seemingly insurmountable, was heavily hindering Cordoleani’s project though. In fact, Sébastien did not have any knowledge of leather processing techniques and methods. “I cannot seam”, he candidly confessed on mensup.fr, which is the portal that told about his story. Despite that, the young entrepreneur did not get discouraged. He therefore decided to take the technical skills and experience he had acquired during his studying and working career in the design field and apply them to his innovative project.
His first works
In 2015, the French architect made his first bag. He gave it as a present to a friend of his. It proved to be a great success. Everybody was looking for it. He therefore created Archipel. What about seams? None at all. “I could not mark creases on leather the way I used to do on paper – remarked Cordoleani –. That is why I decided to make use of a very thick leather, 3 millimetres, and I realized it was even fascinating”. The start-up company founded by Cordoleani drew the attention of Beyond the Leather, a business incubator. Now the architect, at this point the ex-one, is ready to launch his brand.
Pictures taken from archipel-paris.com
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