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A tour of the Delvaux atelier and headquarters in Brussels

Fashion / 14 Jun 2013

A dramatic skylight lets an abundance of natural light into the Delvaux atelier, whose hangar-like appearance is attributed to the fact that it was formerly a maintenance and repair depot for military vehicles

Delvaux's leather library. Some pieces here are nearly 40 years old

Ninety per cent of the bags are made with calf's leather from France and Italy, made especially for Delvaux

This craftsman is an exotic skins specialist, one of two people in the atelier whose job revolves around skins that are more delicate and require skilled handling

The proces of 'shaving' is employed to make leathers thinner. Delvaux's most iconic bag, the Brilliant, is made up of 64 pieces, all of which need to be shaved

A Brilliant bag in alligator skin, which the house sources from Florida

Rather than form a factory-style assembly line, Delvaux's craftspeople construct each bag from start to finish. Here, an artisan fastens a zip onto a bag

A laser machine-cutter in action

A pile of customer repair dockets in the atelier's 'After Sales Department', where bags get cleaned and repaired

An artisan repairs a woven leather bag from the 1970s

The company's headquarters - or 'heartquarters', as employees like to call it - is also home to a mini Delvaux museum

Iconic pieces are displayed alongside photographs from Delvaux's history

Founder Charles Delvaux started his business in 1829 making bespoke trunks, like the one pictured, for weathly Belgian travellers

A timeline of bags lines a wall in the Delvaux museum

A tour of the Delvaux atelier and headquarters in Brussels

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