Quality Street

Have enough mass-produced luxury bags? It could be time to get personal. Divia Harilela meets Olivier Dauchez, the man with the power to bring dedicated French craftsmanship to your elbow

- Divia Harilela

THE D’AUCHEL SHOWROOM, tucked away in an office tower on Lyndhurst Terrace, has all the hallmarks of any luxury leather-goods boutique. Designed to look like a Parisian apartment, it features buttery soft leather bags that sit like objects d’art on curved shelves custom-made in France.

It’s in an adjoining room, however, that you discover the atelier that’s the brand’s beating heart. Here, as Sia plays on the radio, third generation craftsman Yann carefully examines a piece of leather by hand. He tells me that no machine can be programmed to match the human eye’s ability to spot the defects in the hide, then goes on to demonstrate the brand’s hand-stitching process. Using techniques that have been perfected by various members of his family, it takes three tools and one hour to produce a 30-centimetre-square panel.

French craftsmanship is at the soul of D’Auchel, which was founded by entrepreneur Olivier Dauchez in mid-2015. An appreciation for craftsmanship runs in his blood. A descendent of a French noble family dating back to the 13th century, he grew up in a majestic 100-year old chateau in the Loire Valley, surrounded by family heirlooms such as hand-woven tapestries, priceless art works and antiques.

“My grandfather was a master craftsman in silk and was one of the first to make scarves for Hermès,” Dauchez says. “Every morning workers from his factory would bring a bundle of scarves to nearby villages, where local women would do the stitching and hand-roll edges in their homes. This idea of artistry and the value, quality and time that goes into creating something has always stayed with me. It’s very much part of my culture and French culture.”