Hajar el aswad: Literary Arabic for ‘the black stone.’
ASWAD is a fine leather workshop founded in 2015. It is marked by a graphic sense of elegance, inspired in equal parts by Brutalist and Islamic architecture.
This vision is brought to life through classical craftsmanship, in the highest respect of traditional saddle making. The result represents a modernized version of French heritage, a line of unisex and minimalist products, which are both functional and timeless.
The founder, saddler and leather artisan Sonia Ahmimou, applies a knowledge and craft acquired in Paris’ most prestigious houses. After 8 years spent in the ateliers of Hermès, Moynat and Louis Vuitton, the French-Moroccan artisan fuses her own history, her urban lifestyle and this ancient craft.
She designs and executes each piece by hand in her workshop, requiring over 15 hours of manual work and just as many steps of production.
The uniqueness of ASWAD is the continuity between the vision and the entire creative process, liberated of the constraints and soullessness of industrial production.
The pieces of the first collection are edited in a limited series of 97 numbered pieces, available in black and natural colours. The leathers are tanned without chemicals in a vegetable process insuring unparalleled softness to the touch, and allowing for a gradual build-up of natural patina. Over the years, each piece ages distinctively and tells its own story.
The ASWAD workshop also offers custom made orders. These unique pieces are the result of a dialogue between the craftsman and the client, executed in rare leathers for truly exceptional objects.
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213 rue Balzac
75009 Paris
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213 Dean St
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