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If accolades were handed out for inspiring workplace views, then there would be few more worthy recipients than the Celine factory in Radda in Chianti. Nestled in the Tuscan hills, 30km north of Siena, the 5,200 sq m concrete, steel and glass structure rises from its small nook in the lush Italian countryside to provide 360-degree panoramas to the 300 artisans working on the fashion house’s factory floor. Such is the exceptional natural beauty surrounding them, that it makes the item they are crafting all the more fitting. For it is here that Celine’s most celebrated object of beauty, the ‘Triomphe’ handbag, is brought into existence every day.
A classic for all seasons, the ‘Triomphe’ is one of the house’s most popular pieces, transcending not only time but something even more impressive in the world of luxury fashion: creative directors. Designed by Celine’s then-creative director Hedi Slimane in 2018 as a tribute to the Paris-based brand’s founder Céline Vipiana, the ‘Triomphe’ will continue to feature in collections under new creative director Michael Rider, who made his debut in July. Slimane named the bag after the landmark that inspired its logo. Following a minor collision while circumnavigating the Arc de Triomphe, legend has it that Vipiana got out of her vehicle and noticed the interlocking Cs engraved on the chain circling the monument and made it her logo. Long resigned to the maison’s archive when Slimane took the reins, it was revived as the main motif on his maiden handbag – and an icon was reborn.
Inside Celine’s Tuscan factory
Achieving such legendary status requires meticulous attention to detail. At the Radda in Chianti factory, the ‘Triomphe’ is realised through a precision- practised, 15-step assembly line (including quality control after each stage). Akin to watching a sculpture come to life in the hands of an artist, here, hand and machine work symbiotically to achieve perfection.
The weight of perfection only grows as the handbag nears completion, but not a beat is dropped thanks to the team’s finely-tuned baton passing
There are no fewer than 100 components to be accumulated in the cutting process before the assembly of the bag can take place. In this important early stage, artisans study the minutiae detail on calf leather hides using a combination of nesting machines and thenaked eye before lining up their pattern parts within millimetres of each other to reduce waste.
When all are collected, the pieces for each bag progress through skiving (a process that thins the leather), gluing and monogramming, before seams are folded, raw edges are painted, loops and straps are stitched (the thread is first rubbed in beeswax), its body is moulded, and everything is brought together. The final stages see the gold-finished Triomphe clasp hand-screwed onto the front flap before going through a rigorous two-step quality check, and it’s then wrapped ready for sending to Celine’s worldwide stores. And with the success of each step determined by the skilled eye and steady hand of each artisan, the weight of perfection only grows as the handbag nears completion, but not a beat is dropped thanks to the team’s finely-tuned baton passing. If there are nerves, then none are showing. It is, we are told, a stimulating, collaborative and rewarding experience – and it looks it.
Designed in LA, made in Italy, and exuding Celine’s signature Parisian polish, the ‘Triomphe’ is an ode to legacy, tradition and modernity – or, poetically put, beauty born from beauty.
A version of this story appears in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
