Peaceful atelier
Our company started in 1978, as a hobby by Dilip Kapur on his return to India after his Ph.D in International Affairs in the United States. The first few bags were different compared to anything being manufactured in Europe and America at that time. From small alternative shops in San Francisco and London, the bags moved to the first adventurous department stores in the early 1990s in London, California and Australia. Hidesign launched its first exclusive boutique in India in 1998 and has quickly grown to 84 exclusive stores and a distribution network in 23 countries that has placed its product in over 2000 stores across the globe.
Hidesign established its first custom designed atelier in Pondicherry, India in 1990. This important milestone confirms our commitment to innovation, technical excellence and local community development. The premises where we work reflects our brand values – our atelier is constructed from bricks made of local earth and fired in kilns that were made on the premises, by Ray Meeker, the well-known low cost ecological building expert.
Our campus is perfectly located amidst green meadows, duck ponds, waterfalls and other wild trees. Lunch time at Hidesign is pretty much outdoors, under the trees, sitting on rock benches and tables. Our atelier is a reflection of our brand and inspires our design and way of life.
About
Preciose handwork
We believe in being artisanal: at our atelier there is no mass production, no assembly line. Our products are all handcrafted using leathers that come from our own tanneries, brass buckles that are exclusively sand casted and polished painstakingly by hand at our own brass forge. Our craftsmen still knot every stitch ending by hand, and our cutters still cut leather with fine pointed knives, a skill that takes two years to master. With an average work experience at Hidesign of over 17 years, we have one of the most skilled teams of craftsmen in the leather goods industry in the world.
“There is great beauty in simplicity” modest advice from The Mother at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry that influenced Dilip Kapur all his childhood. It is still the basic design philosophy that drives Hidesign, with both Alberto Ciaschini in Milan and Fabian Lintott in London sharing the same belief.
Hidesign’s multi-cultural aesthetic is also reflected in our design team. Fabian Lintott with his edgy style and British functionality designs our men’s range, Alberto Ciaschini with his experience at Giorgio Armani, Trussardi & Hugo Boss make him a fantastic designer for women’s fashion and luxury. In India, Dilip Kapur’s simple, often androgynous sense makes for excellent men’s and women’s collections.
Absolutely natural
On discovering that most tanneries had shifted to the faster and cheaper process of chemical tanning, Hidesign revived the almost forgotten technique of vegetable tanning. Learning from the centuries old skills, using natural seeds and barks native to South India, Hidesign has created fashionable leathers that age exceptionally well. Today it is a leader in the research and use of vegetable tanned leathers across the globe.
Our company shares its love for nature with Joss and communicates this with a series of three stories – afforestation, medicinal plants, and wildlife in it's packaging. Our new paper bags and cloth bags communicate these stories and we have written a lot about the beauty of wildlife in the Hidesign Diary 2016. Some of the money from the proceeds will be going towards Joss and his team to help them conserve indigenous forests.
We use only vegetable extracts for tanning as far as possible. All waste water from the tannery is filtered using RO before it is let out. All waste water in the atelier goes through a natural process of filtration in the water bodies we've built as a part of the landscaping and is reused.All waste material is separated and reused or sold for reuse. We do not burn anything. For us the concern for ecology is an ongoing search for better healthier ways to live and work. It comes out of believing in it and making it a core value.