Delvaux is back in Paris

Owner: Delvaux
Interior design: Vudafieri-Saverino Partners
Photo credits: Antoine Huot, courtesy by Delvaux

It isn’t easy to keep faith with the style of a company with a heritage of almost two centuries, while applying unusual creativity and originality. Tiziano Vudafieri and Claudio Saverino have managed to do just that, unintimidated by the fact that Delvaux is the world’s oldest leather goods company, the first to invent women’s handbags, and an official supplier of the Belgian royal family since 1883. In 2012 the duo formulated a brilliant worldwide store concept for the Belgian brand, within which its story can be told in constantly different ways.

And history repeats itself (so to speak) in the new boutique in Paris, the fourth in the French capital, with an area of 100 square meters inside a historic building on Rue Saint Honoré. Here a reinterpretation of the wall paneling, always a feature of the Delvaux project, calls for the use of a series of antique doors that decorate the walls and form a backdrop for the product displays, framing the precious bags.

Rare antiques with a range of different time periods and decorations, but all in inimitable French style, elegantly narrate a tale of research and passion for things well done, while paying homage to the city that hosts the boutique.

Other antique items alternate with custom furnishings by Vudafieri-Saverino Partners, such as the majestic antique table in gray Sant’Anna marble, presenting a floral motif in white, and the exceptional gilded ceremonial cabinet from the 18^th century placed alongside the Custom Bar: a counter created as a workstation where visitors can experiment with personalization of the products, topped by suspension lamps with an industrial image.

The chromatic and tactile quality of the wall finishes is exceptional, thanks to special plaster and stucco work – by the Italian artist Filippo Falaguasta – generating warm tones in tune with the leather goods.

The identity of Delvaux is embodied by the typical finishes in pale gold, nickel velour and burnished brass, while the tribute to Paris and to France emerges in the original use of the antique doors, and in a selection of materials for the floors, including Pierre de Bourgogne, and for the details of the shelving, in Pierre de Taille, typical of the facades of historic buildings in the French capital.