Normal Luxury

Image from Isaac Reina's W11 Collection

Image from Isaac Reina's W11 Collection

It's notable when we come across a manifesto from a luxury leather goods designer that reads more like a page from the Muji manifesto of "Back to our origins, into the future" rather than the usual showy verbage used by design houses to sell their latest It Bags.  In the inspirations that Reina lists on his website, he name drops architects and industrial designers like Jasper Morrison (who's book with Muji designer Naoto Fukasawa "Super Normal Sensations of the Ordinary" we LOVE)  instead of the usual fashion suspects.  That's not to say that Isaac Reina doesn't know luxury -  he spent years at luxury leather giant Hermes, and has also collaborated with Maison Martin Margiela.  It's just that his version of luxury relies on what is not said, knowing when to use luxury elements (in his impossibly gorgeous double calf leathers which only continue to look better with age and imperfection), and when to not (in his conspicuous lack of hardware and embellishment).

And for those reason, we covet Reina's carefully curated bags and small leather goods. 

Read on, from the Isaac Reina website:

Product

Bags and small leather goods. all of them made in Paris.

General concept

I'm trying to make very simple goods, so normal, without any pretention. Almost industrial, mass market shapes... but handcrafted, giving priority to the quality. I'm trying to forget the traditional iconography used for luxury. A beautiful material, a beautiful manufacturing and the right proportions! (so elementary principles, essential ones, but too often forgotten) Only the details we need. Nothing else. (the hard task to always simplify, again and again) Maybe a non-design concept, almost invisible. (like taking time to get some rest, to take a breath of fresh air) No innovation at any price. (trying to avoid too much effects, to keep the essential: the fonction) Looking for a type of natural and unsophisticated beauty.

General inspiration

Industrial aesthetics, basic packaging, die-cutting, paperboard folding. And some architect and designer masters (for me) influence: Arne Jacobsen, Charlotte Perriand, Jonathan Ive, Jasper Morrison... 

Isaac Reina Standard Weekend Bag