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©Gustave Maurice
©Gustave Maurice
©Gustave Maurice
©Gustave Maurice
©Gustave Maurice

Sébastien Lepeu

  • Gustave Maurice
  • Leatherworker
  • Paris, France
  • Master Artisan
Sébastien Lepeu Leatherworker
Contact
French, English, Spanish
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+33 627589216
©Gustave Maurice

Original origami and other leather goods

  • • Sébastien loves to create timeless leather accessories
  • • His leather work extends to origami sculptures and lamps
  • • He refers to his working process as poetry

Sébastien Lepeu is the craftsman behind the Gustave Maurice label. Master in the French art of saddle making and fine leather, he creates collections of classic bags and small goods. In a parallel series, he lets his creativity express itself in arresting origami sculptures. As surprising as they are elegant, he confers on leatherwork a new dimension. It is a fortuitous meeting with an artisan that convinced Sébastien to follow his first passion: working with his hands. After several years of studying in the audio-visual field, he turned to choose the path of craftsmanship and started training in a Compagnon du devoir workshop. Precision, harmony, and patience are the founding values of this traditional craft that Sébastien seeks to honour in each of his gestures.

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Gustave Maurice
  • ©Gustave Maurice
  • ©Gustave Maurice
  • ©Gustave Maurice
  • ©Gustave Maurice
Photo: ©Gustave Maurice
Soussou

This hand-stitched shoulder bag with its oval base is made from blue alligator leather. It features a golden shoulder strap buckle and eyelets. A classic bucket handbag, it was inspired by an earlier canvas and leather piece, specially commissioned by Sebastian Lepeu's wife (whose nickname Soussou was given to the bag).

Photo: ©Gustave Maurice
Ric

This blue hand-stitched card holder has a flap and snap. On the very thick sides, Sébastien Lepeu has worked a special old-fashioned finish showing several layers of leather. The piece is made of Cordovan, an equine leather made from the fibrous flat connective tissue (or shell) beneath the hide on the rump of the horse.

Photo: ©Gustave Maurice
Petit Bateau

This white leather paper press is inspired by the shape of an origami paper boat. This piece is part of Sébastien Lepeu's sculptural leather work series. This little boat is “a nod to the young child we all once were,” he explains.

Photo: ©Gustave Maurice
Numidienne

La Demoiselle Crane (Grus Virgo) is a folded leather sculpture inspired by the art of origami. It is part of Sébastien Lepeu's leather sculpture series. His very first sculptural piece was a simple test for a shop decoration project, which then became “a pleasant way to marry two passions: leathercraft and wading birds.”

Photo: ©Gustave Maurice
Aronde

In a rectangular shape, this classic hand stitched shoulder bag features nickel-plated metal parts. It is the first design that Sébastien Lepeu made when he was sharing a cabinetmaker’s workshop. The shoulder strap splits in two, reminiscent of a swallow’s tail. Aronde means swallow in old French and is still used by cabinetmakers to name an assembly technique: dovetail (queue d’aronde, in French).

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