Lemaire launches moulded leathergoods from Ubrique
French luxury label Lemaire, headed up by former Hermès artistic director Christophe Lemaire, recently unveiled a five-piece collection of moulded leathergoods, handcrafted in the Spanish town of Ubrique in Cádiz.
The vegetable-tanned cowhide collection, which Lemaire said “honours the singular and ancestral know-how” rooted in Ubrique, is comprised of a phone holder, a card holder, a cigarette holder, a key holder and the Tacco bag, available in black, “Prussian blue” and “light mist grey”.
Lemaire’s chosen leather workshop achieved the goods’ “sleek” moulded forms through the use of “innovative” moulding frames and techniques, the brand said. By pressing wet leather encased in a metal mould, which is then held taut in a heavy frame, the leather takes on the desired shape after some hours, without the need for any stitching or reinforcement.
After removing the leather from the mould and cutting it to size, it is then smoothed out by hand using a hammer on a resin base to remove any remaining irregularities, Lemaire described. Dye is applied to the edges with a brush to enhance each item’s contours, followed by a waxing process to reveal the leather’s “deep sheen”.
“The singular nature of these items is intimately related to the leatherworking process, which brings out the essence of the material, the leather’s grain and unique suppleness,” the brand said.
Image: Lemaire. Credit: Osma Harvilahti
