EAB Press & Image Editions

Vignes, the World in a Bag

ÂŤ Beauty, aesthetic emotion, fosters understanding Âť Lucretia

A door opens on the route to India. This is an invitation to travel, a Grand Tour as did the aristocrats of the

eighteenth century, eager for exoticism and discoveries. Among the rugged peaks of Rajasthan where sometimes the goat Krispati adventures at dusk...

In search of a bygone era where elegance and re finement harmoniously chanted every moment of life.

Landscapes of Java, at dawn, in the thrill of a powerful Nature awakening among the delicate dew of a new day.

Seeking iguana in a lush and thick jungle…

Colorful travel followign the common thread to a primitive and pristine Island.Virgin land carrying itself the memory of mankind.

Precious travel companions such as Sacred Gates of Heavenly Jerusalem Emerald, Amethyst, Quartz , Onyx, Ruby, Diamond ...

Back to St. Germain in Paris, I realized that it was not a dream, opening my bag at the «Flores» cafe, the sa ffron scent of old memories come to mind.

Awekening again these moments of Eternity it contains, and which mystery it secretly keeps.

Vignes, the World in a Bag

By Estelle Arielle Bouchet

This is therefore the journey of a Bag around the Globe, on a quest for new emotional and artistic experiences.

A bag constitutes a microcosm in itself, a small, secret and intimate world that the VIGNES woman of the world occasionally reveals when she decides to turn things - and her bag - inside out. A VIGNES bag has so many stories to tell, so many tales of travel, exoticism, adventure and conquest…

Its lucky owner, a modern-day Amazonian, is content and firmly anchored in her femininity, embracing it fully with joy and lightness of heart. There are very powerful bonds binding a woman to her bag, and a link of identification.

A VIGNES bag is a treasured and eminently feminine space. But make no mistake! We’re not talking about any bag and certainly not any woman !

The VIGNES world and the VIGNES experience: handmade and Made in France. Practically an initiation.

Incontestably, VIGNES’ fine leather goods epitomises French know-how. Each item is unique and Made in France, by hand, in workshops in Nice. Under the direction of Anne and Bertrand Vignes, rare leathers of python, Javanese iguana, ostrich and crocodile are transformed with utmost care into VIGNES bags.

In this universe, colour plays an important role. It toys with conventions, daring chromatic combinations that are surprising but work so well. VIGNES bags are modular: carried as a purse or worn over the shoulder, one and the same bag - such as the “Bonnie”, for instance - can play four roles!

Rare skins are combined to great effect: Javanese iguana or crocodile readily flirt with ostrich in the same bag.

VIGNES adheres to an unconventional aesthetic code that dreams up unexpected combinations of rare skins in unusual and harmonious colour palettes. The result is both extravagant in terms of interpretation, and classic in the way each item is made, harnessing the traditional expertise of French Fine Leather Goods.

Who is the VIGNES woman? What are her ideals and her vision of the World?

She has no preconceptions and is open to the World. A keen observer of issues currently facing our planet earth, she is a woman who sets great store by balance and justice.

Occasionally an idealist, the VIGNES woman is an aesthete; she is skilled in creating beauty and balance on and around herself.

She is cultivated and likes Travel and everything related to it. A globe trotter, her keen eye is the key to the intense emotions she experiences throughout the joyous itineraries that light up her life.

Feminine, with high standards, she recognises the beautiful and the well-made with an expert eye; the siren song of consumerism holds no sway.

She is more comfortable in an ideal of quality than in a compulsive rush towards quantity. Being convinced that Lucretia’s motto is even more apt today, in a world that is increasingly complex and in need of landmarks.

A

troll through the World of Fine Leather Goods with

Vignes and its leathers from afar VIGNES invites you on a journey, a journey through a universe where Precious Skins, Expertise, Creativity and Excellence are drawn together to fashion original and colourful refinement in true French style.

VIGNES has a traditional workshop in the centre of Nice where fine leather goods are painstakingly put together under the direction of Bertrand Vignes, a craftsman who learnt his trade with the great names in the business.

VIGNES, with its bags, small leather items, Ipad and Iphone covers, belts and jewellery, knows how to add on eccentric twist whilst working colours and materials with subtlety and measure, like an alchemist insatiably seeking new aesthetic codes and unusual, unexpected palettes.

VIGNES is synonymous with a modular Bag that springs many a surprise, changing its mood in the blink of an eye, as if by a magic, by changing the colour of its handles or shoulder strap…

VIGNES is a way of Being, another way of experiencing Luxury – with humour and elegance.

VIGNES creates bags that stand out in the crowd thanks to a small leather label at the end of a chrome chain, like a lucky charm.

Sublime Collections offer countless variations that gleefully and playfully adapt to match every season and every outfit. With a short time deadline for epecial orders.

Precious Skins, Leathers of Ostrich, Crocodile, Python and Iguana from Java, small items in Shagreen, extraordinary necklaces of shagreen beads designed by Creative Director Anne Vignes.

VIGNES is a breath of fresh air, a spirited interpretation of Travel and Discovery, the fun and joyful spirit of childhood dreams…

Bertrand Vignes’ Workshop in the heart of Nice- French Riviera

A Mariage of Love and Know-how Everything often starts with a love story, this begins in Paris, Anne is a student at the Beaux Arts, and at the Ecole du Louvre. For this 20 years old girl, meeting Bertrand Vignes was crucial for her professional path and family destiny. It was «La Boheme» in a small shared room with love as a dowry, and a deep and shared taste for Art and Creation.

The story of Bertrand Vignes begins very early when he was only fourteen. One day, he finds an article on George William Dickinson, director of John Lobb. A legend in the profession who became famous in the intelligence field during last war, before becoming a master shoemaker of the illustrious house. He made up his mind, Bertrand Vignes will become a shoemaker. Armed with his degree, he moves to Paris a few years later, meets Anne, and is hired in the Wake of this, at JM Weston.

Then it will be John Lobb, where his debut as a boot maker is the realization of a childhood dream. For Bertrand Vignes, marrying precious skins is a permanent trait of his craft as leather master, and a distinct feature of the VIGNES DNA, all skins do not have the same background or the same meaning in the history of leather goods. Some, for example, have recently been developed, like the python and iguana, following the impulses of fashion.As to the qualitative gradation, crocodile is what is most luxurious.

The great advances in recent years in terms of luxury leather goods, primarily stand at the technical level: the tanning, the finishing touches, and the creativity going into the work of the skins. Before, the crocodile was tanned as a brilliant but always rigid material, construed with a certain formality. Then, more recently, the crocodile has become soft and matte, like the bag Berti of VIGNES.

Under the impetus of fashion and pressure from creators, always novelty seeking, tanners have hired designers in charge of finishing the work, and of the style of the skins, which was absolutely not the case before.

There was no communication between the tannery and the creators. Today, there is a multitude of fields of interpretations for hides, under the leadership of Luxury Houses. We have come to know the first matte skins, which gave a vintage look to the pieces, certainly less flashy than shiny crocodile leather would.

As for Anne Vignes, Head of Creation of the eponymous House, she conducts the Men & Women segments of Maison VIGNES, giving the axis and substance of each Collection. The purposefulness of this beautiful woman, and her Mediterranean charisma, has made of Maison VIGNES in the space of twenty years, a reference in relation to Haute Leather Goods and Know How. A Luxury House, both intimate and confidential, which creates exclusive leather pieces, well beyond fashion fads, etching each Collection in a strong cultural anchorage. With large dark eyes opened onto the World, the smile of a child, she has a deep love for travelling that she skillfully materializes into innovating designs combined with expert mix of precious skins.

This « Handmade & Made in France » giving birth to rare pieces, unique in their peerless quality and beauty.

In her own image, her way of expressing herself through these precious skins is always in keeping with a very natural and playful aesthetic code where color holds the supreme rank. Thanks to Anne and Bertrand VIGNES, it is a whole Universe of Refinement we are to discover for our greatest enjoyment.

Bertrand Vignes, the craftsman Annes Vignes, precious leathers’s explorer

The Saint Germain clutch A happy messenger A glass of Bordeaux for two, enjoyed on the corner of a zinc at La Palette, looking into each other’s eyes, this followed by the ineffable joy of meeting up a painter friend for the opening of his exhibition at a gallery in rue de Seine.

Then, a late dinner at Brasserie Lipp in this timeless and highly symbolic world of the literary and artistic soul of Saint Germain des Pres ...

The clutch of Saint Germain VIGNES moves with elegance and feminine restraint in this district’s space that is its own, always at ease, and at its proper place.

A beautiful rectangle of precious leather would seem, at first sight, to announce the crafting of a rigid and practical piece.

Classic and essential, of course, but make no mistake: The hybridization of leather skins, a real part of the Maison VIGNES DNA, provides a ludic touch to this bag, handmade and beautifully crafted in France.

The rigor of crocodile leather softened by flexible bellows of cleverly coordinated Java Iguana leather, a crocodile strip emphasizes the top of the body of the bag, like a picture frame.

The goat leather lining Krispati plays hide and seek, playfully letting you discover its beautiful amethyst hue, a VIGNES icon.

Saint Germain, sometimes a diva, in its precious leather pouch, sometimes casually slung on your shoulder with a beautiful palladium chain, you will find it again, at nightfall, on a bike, in that café area.

Saint Germain clutch crocodile & iguana of Java from 2600 €

The « Do » bag by Vignes A Tribute to primitive Arts Enigma of a mask of Papua, ritual totems of Black Africa in the lofty firmament of starry skies, mysterious and huge statues of Easter Island ... A trip back to the cradle of civilizations and peoples amid a vibrant, exuberant and powerful Nature, where wild animals roam in the heart of an African night ...

Or a simple stroll to the « Arts Premiers » of quai Branly, and a pure and single musical note, far away, and yet so close, an original and primal sound at the beginning of the world and its creation. « Do » the lovely C note in french, sometimes high, sometimes low, drawing on crocodile leather as on a melodic staff, the joyful symphony of a bag like none other.

The back of crocodile is indeed a portion of precious skin that has been seldom used in Upper Leather.

Anne and Bertrand Vignes launched anew a design challenge with the bag « Do », a tribute to this rebellious and unique skin, and to these civilizations they are particularly fond of. They conceived a classic bag in its appearance, but very «Rock & Roll» in mind, with these movements and dynamics imposed by the skin itself.

A beautiful square crocodile bag lights up the life of its natural rough patches of skin, on its edges.

The center of the square, like as a raised design, tells great stories, such as those of an intrepid explorer, citizen of the world, who plays as a heroine of «Out of Africa» like an Ariadne and the thread of her moods and passions. « Do » always sets the tone, flawlessly, and perfectly illustrates this unusual and travelling universe of the House VIGNES.

Bag Do crocodile back from 6000 €

The Bag Saint Germain Vignes In the heart of Saint Germain des Prés The heart of Saint Germain palpitates, the years have passed, but this area remains unchanged.

Under the impassive gaze of the powerful lions of Place Saint Sulpice. Saint Germain embodies itself too, in this mercurial strength, this free and rebellious spirit, this unspeakable joy of being at the center of a mythical place that has seen singing and dancing until dawn at the Red Rose or at Taboo, Juliette Greco, Boris Vian ... it still remembers the insightful and playful Albert Cossery launched by visionary writer Henry Miller on holiday in Paris.

This is the story of a romantic encounter Boulevard Saint Germain, preceded by a subtle desire for something beautiful, something precious that wouldn’t be necessarily a gem but would own its brightness and light...

The meeting then took place at the VIGNES Shop, I discovered an exquisite bag, rigorous in appearance with this beautiful and precious leather rectangle, giving it immediately a formal and understated look...

Classicism destabilized by its extensible pockets of ostrich leather easing the geometry of the sides of this meticulous bag.

It is called the St. Germain, in honor of the eponymous district.

Its colors are those of the precious gems of a heavenly Jerusalem: Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Onyx, Quartz and Diamond.

Its interior leather of amethyst krispati goat invites to serenity and reflection.

The small VIGNES talisman dances along a small chain its graceful and happy swing.

Unpredictable, capricious and well educated, thus I met this tumultuous love. Its fate met mine, at Saint Germain, one morning...

Saint Germain green crocodile & ostrich from 3500 €

Appointment with « Berti » the It-Bag of Vignes House Berti, elegant, refined, Latin, is a bag that is always where you least expect it, at the light and happy dates of your life.

Those of the beautiful vacations, of the lovers’ weekends in Venice, the cultural breaks in Florence among the spring blooms and delicately scented hills of Settignano and Fiesole.

Berti is a luxury bag of understatement with this own casual ways to move, sometimes mischievously worn cross-shoulder, sometimes more formally worn on the arm with its beautiful round or flat handles.

He is the ally of the sublime moments of our lives, a long term traveler, undoubtedly carved in a spirit of freedom and independence.

Flexible and sophisticated, it features an open life, confidently, without an a priori and narrow minded vision.

Berti is a free spirit in a happy body ...

Its rectangular shape gives him the privilege to assume the coveted role of the best travel companion.

Available in three sizes, Berti, a bag that can accommodate all the necessary clothes for a night flight or through a long-term cruise. It is offered in all colors fully playing the card of playful freedom, its handles and shoulder strap are interchangeable with the seasons, our outfits and moods.

The Berti, a dream, a Grand Tour, a symbol for a beautiful explorer of new adventures and spaces, a testimony of a rich and unpredictable life.

Grey Berti tote matte colored crocodile from 1400 €

Gonzalez A Speedy bag by Vignes A few nights spent in Buenos Aires to run out in Cuevas Tangos following staccato rythms.

Dreaming of a genuine people, of a forgotten nation, joining then in the wake of the Mapuche Indians, drinking a mate in the name of friendship, painting with them geometric and colorful paintings, playing with children and sleeping under the stars ...

Saying a kind goodbye, and then aim towards the South in the direction of Uruguay and Punta del Este, a hasty departure with Gonzalez, a Speedy bag by VIGNES, always on the move, closed with a zip, and still dreaming of a well deserved halt, yet hard to find, on warm and colorful beaches, still speeding a hundred miles an hour.

Of python leather, this gorgeous rectangle with handles and interchangeable straps, fully plays the touch of color so suited to the VIGNES Universe.

Gonzalez, a VIGNES bag for all circumstances, sometimes urban, sometimes Chic trekker, it is primarily a comfortable bag, wide enough to shelter your personal belongings, which will never feel cramped in this beautiful space giving free reign to your imagination and perception field.

Whether it is small, medium or large, Gonzalez is this very roomy and practical bag.

Keepind in mind the elegance and refined sophistication of the VIGNES creations, Hand Made & Made in France.

Gonzalez python version from 1400 ₏

Addresses PARIS 188, Boulevard St Germain 75007 Paris Tél.: +33.1 45 44 47 90 SAINT-TROPEZ 9, Rue Henri Seillon 83990 Saint-Tropez Tél.: +33.4 94 56 20 03 NICE, Worshop 13, Rue Bavastro 06300 Nice Tél.: +33.4 93 89 16 70 TOKYO Sun Motoyama, Ginza Main Shop Namiki street 6-6-7 Ginza Chuo-Ku,Tokyo 104-0061 www.vignes-creations.com

Crédits : Project & Story Tellings : Estelle Arielle Bouchet for EAB Press & Image Coordination : Alexandra Ignatieff Photos : Edith Andreotta, Loïc Thebaud Production : Pierre Maunoury Layouts : Alexandre De Sousa