Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 49 (Esther). 46 (Dimitrios).
Occupation: Traditional leather handbag and accessory designers.
Instagram: @tsatsas
Hometown: Wiesbaden, Germany (Esther). Filiates, Greece (Dimitrios).
Studio location: Frankfurt.
Describe what you make: We make handbags and accessories, handcrafted in Germany by innovating the traditional leather craftsmanship, paired with a progressive design language. Our designs take a modern, not a fashionable approach, to create products with a timeless aesthetic.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our tote bag, Fluke, designed in 2012. The bag was the basis for our entire collection, embodying the values that Tsatsas stands for to this day. It taught us to keep our eyes open and to see chance occurrences as opportunities. During the design process for our first-ever bag Lucid, we had half a prototype hanging up on the wall of our workshop. The suspended leather naturally found itself a way to hang, and we were delighted with the resultant drape of the folds. This coincidence led us to the design for what became the Fluke.
Describe the problem your work solves: The innovation of traditional leather craftsmanship to preserve its relevance in the future.
Describe the project you are working on now: We’re finalizing the last details of Danaïde, a novelty bag a part of our SS’25 collection. This shoulder bag is one of the most impressive bag designs of Tsatsas. Inspired by the 1913 sculpture, Danaïde, by Romanian artist Constantin Brâncuși, our intention was to create a complex three-dimensional leather object without a clearly recognizable front, back, or side that contains unusual perspectives from all angles. The sculpture our Danaïde bag takes inspiration from shows a lying female head made of black patinated bronze containing elegant yet minimal aesthetics of reduced lines as well as maximum precision in craftsmanship.
Despite working on our collection of bags and accessories, we are currently continuing our long-term collaborative projects, one with designer Kostas Murkudis and the other being The Case Collection with David Chipperfield. Collaborations entice us as they allow us to broaden our horizons, think outside the box, and step out of our comfort zone. With Murkudis, we’re working on the second edition of our common project. We share a love for materials, cuts and proportions, and pushing our boundaries in the sphere of fashion. At the end of this year, we’ll launch a new item of The Case Collection that we developed in conjunction with Chipperfield. We first met David back in 2017, and our chemistry as well as our standards for design and quality coincided. From there, the idea of a joint project was born, which was followed by a multi-year partnership.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: The Card-Case, the third product of the Tsatsas x Sir David Chipperfield The Case Collection, launched on August 26. The second edition of Kostas Murkudis collaboration will launch in 2025.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music and coffee. Both, all day long.
What you do when you’re not working: We go for long walks, as often as possible, to clear our heads. We also will play basketball with our son as he loves the sport.
Sources of creative envy: Content plays a key role for us when it comes to creativity. Content comes from our own matrix that is composed of influences from art, design, architecture, and music. It is about culture, about a mindset. There are artists, such as Cy Twombly and Jannis Kounellis, whom we greatly admire, as well as architects, such as Carlo Scarpa and Álvaro Siza Vieira. Musician Joy Division, designers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Charlotte Perriand, and or our collaborative partner, Dieter Rams, are all like-minded people who are our sources of creativity and form our cosmos.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Everything disturbing the inner creative voice.
Concrete or marble? Concrete (Esther). Marble (Dimitrios).
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts.
Dark or light? Light (Esther). Dark (Dimitrios).
Portrait by Gerhardt Kellermann.
