A new collection from Parisian fashion house Berluti sees the tale of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince translated onto its signature leather goods for modern-day travellers.
Working with Saint-Exupéry’s sketchbooks as well as the author’s finished watercolour illustrations found in the book, the team at Berluti have reimagined them, both onto and into, the house’s emblematic Venezia full-grain leather. By treating the leather as a canvas, they were able to bring pages to life in a novel manner; this includes the spectrum of signature treatments the maison is known and loved for, like patina, engraving, tattooing and some new techniques, among them watercolour and leather marquetry.
The story behind Berluti’s ‘The Little Prince’ collection
The final ‘Trois Nuits’ bag, which features one of the book’s most memorable scenes, recreated in watercolour patina and tattooed lines
Lasers are used to engrave like handwriting, lifting quotes, sketches and parts of manuscripts from Saint-Exupéry’s work. The patina is applied to paint the leather, delicately, layer after layer, creating that sublime and subtle movement of tone and shade deep within the surface of the leather that is synonymous with Berluti.
Adding for the first time brush work to Berluti’s vocabulary, atop already patinated leather, offers an opportunity to emulate the artist’s own watercolours. Tattooing augments the laser, where motifs are traced deep into the surface of the leather. And finally marquetry, a technique first developed during the Italian renaissance, adds contrast and further depth to the finished pieces.
A patina treatment on the ‘Makore Compact’ wallet, £750, which is crafted at Manifattura Berluti
Take the ‘Trois Nuits’ 72-hour bag, which sees the individual pattern pieces assembled and worked together flat from left to right, like a polyptych, with a mountain landscape (and the titular prince on the highest peak) first in patina, then watercolour and, finally, details of ridges added with tattooing.
My personal favourite is the ‘Makore Compact’ wallet, which represents the tale of the snake that swallowed the elephant. When it’s folded, you perceive a rich patina in a shade of garnet and the snake hollowed out in laser; seeing just half the design, it reads like an abstract modern artwork. Only when the wallet is opened out, so you see front and back covers as one work, can you read the full drawing and marvel at the fantastical idea of a giant elephant inside a snake.
The ‘Espace’ long wallet, £1,020 (right), features sketches and hand-applied patina, with the ‘Jagua’ card holder, £580 (left), which has an elephant motif
This project showcases the skills of the embellishment department at Manifattura Berluti in Fererra, Italy, a state-of-the-art building that opened in 2015, designed by Barthelemy & Griño Architects. It's here the team, many trained at the nearby L’Académie du savoir-faire in Ferrara (established in the 14th century, naturally), applies their well-honed skills to the leather.
The collection comprises seven bags, eight wallets and card holders, one shoe and four cashmere scarves, launching worldwide at Berluti stores and online from 30 October 2026.
An artisan at Manifattura Berluti in Fererra, Italy