Serge Amoruso, Maroquinier

The table in Serge Amoruso’s Paris atelier is piled with supple, brilliantly colored skins: calfskin,crocodile, sharkskin, ostrich and other exotics including galuchat, or shagreen, the surprisingly beautiful, pebbled skin of the stingray. They come in shades of rose, turquoise, tangerine, emerald green and violet, and all are destined to be hand cut, hand stitched and otherwise transformed into the most desirable of custom-made briefcases, handbags, valises and other beautifully designed leather objets.

Amoruso began his career by studying sellerie, or saddlery, and worked for eight years crafting luxury leather goods at Hermès. He opened his first shop in the Marais and is now near the Viaduc des Arts, where he works mostly on custom orders. A small selection of ready-made items is also available.

More than a fine leatherworker, Amoruso is a designer who turns his hand to all sorts of projects—an exquisite little folding knife with a damascene blade and shagreen inset in the handle, a shagreen cigar holder, a chocolate storage cabinet with compartments lined in gold leaf designed for chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin. He’s known for audacious colors—a black billfold opens to a scarlet interior, an orange handbag is trimmed in turquoise; a slim wallet comes in lilac lined with pistachio. He sometimes incorporates bamboo, ebony or rosewood into his designs; other materials that add a touch of the unexpected are titanium, fossilized mammoth tusk, and pieces of meteorite, polished to a silvery sheen and fashioned into a zipper pull. “Imagine—you put your hand on this and you are touching a star. It makes you dream…”

Passionate about his craft, Amoruso welcomes challenges—he covered two elevators for Monaco’s Port Palace hotel in sea-colored shagreen, and “would love to cover an entire wall in galuchat some day”. In November 2010 Amoruso was named a Maître d’Art by France’s Ministry of Culture. Designed to recognize masters of traditional savoir-faire, the title is awarded for life, designating the recipient as one of the country’s “living treasures”.

13 rue Abel, Paris 12th. 01.43.45.14.10.