A tour of the Delvaux atelier and headquarters in Brussels

A dramatic skylight lets an abundance of natural light in delvaux atelier

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

(Image credit: Delvaux)

By Jack Moss

last updated 10 October 2022

in Features

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

Craftsman is an exotic skins specialist — 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

Shaving' is employed to make leathers thinner — 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

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

An artisan fastens a zip onto a bag — 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

Bags get cleaned and repaired — 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

Bespoke trunks for weathly Belgian travellers — 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

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Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.