Miniature luxury bags that faithfully reproduce every detail of their iconic full-size counterparts. What are we talking about? About the new frontier of Luxury: charms. A trend actually already in vogue for a few years, but in recent times it seems to have become a must among fashion victims of all ages. Luxurious, small item holders that have earned a reputation as status symbols. There are few artisans in the world who are able to make these little masterpieces of pure leather goods technique, and one of them is Claudio Bonucci, a leatherworker and entrepreneur with over forty years of experience in the industry, who with his company CB Projet is one of the leading producers of charms for the Luxury market.
"Charms are just the latest trend in chronological order in leather goods," Bonucci says, "when I started this business, the world was different and so was our industry. There was room in the market for many small homemade brands that worked very well with the United States and Japan. Then the advent of big brands changed everything."
So the world is evolving and, as a result, customer habits have also played a role: "Of course, before, they used to produce zippered wallets, check holders, coin purses...now there is no need because you pay directly with your phones! - reflects Bonucci - So even small leather goods had to adapt, and the arrival of charms on the market fits into this logic." How does one so faithfully "miniaturize" an iconic bag? "I get excited about challenges," says the owner of CB Projet, "Our motto is 'if it can be done, we do it,' so we threw ourselves headlong into this adventure. Industrializing charms is complicated, the work required is painstaking: to mount the micro-accessories on the bag you use lenses and goldsmith's pliers! A very high level of manual dexterity is required."
A fine work where the craft, the know-how, matters more than ever. What is the production process of a charm? "Usually, it takes a year from design to fabrication, and the materials used, including accessories, are provided by the customer," Claudio Bonucci explains. "There is little competition in this niche at the moment because not everyone has the ability to engage in such detailed workmanship. To adapt to this new way of production, we have created a department in the company dedicated only to micro leather goods, equipped with sewing machines modified for the micro size of charms."
Micro leather goods then is the latest step in Luxury. After this, what will be the next trend?: "All the changes related to the product before the arrival of charms were mainly about the functionality of the objects - concludes Claudio Bonucci - The future? In my opinion these miniature bags still have a long life and even more extreme and detailed reproductions will be in demand. We are ready, we will always stick to our motto!"
