Etienne Aigner is one luxury brand which has been in our market for a very long time, as a matter of fact they’ve been in Asia for 30 years. In the old days before many luxury brands set their foot to our beloved country, they’re here first. If you’re looking for accessories of high quality and made from leather, you will most probably go to Aigner. With so many choices arising nowadays, Aigner seems to be surviving just fine because they maintain true to their principles of providing high quality goods which retain their tradition and unique craftsmanship which deliver perfection in every detail.

Aigner’s symbol is actually a horse shoe which is considered to be a lucky symbol in a Western cultural circles. Whereas in Asia, this is represented by the dragon. Which is why, to celebrate its 30th year presence in Asia, Aigner brought a very limited edition bag which is only available 111 pieces worldwide with two dragons comfortably hugging the Aigner’s horse show design on a metallic bag. So that’s double the lucky charm for you ladies

At the Bag Master event held by Aigner a while back, we were also introduced to the maestro behind the bags of Aigner which is Christine Buettner, who came all the way from Munich, Germany to tell us a little bit of a story about Aigner bags. She begun her career in 1983 and she has been working with many design house on producing bags (and one of them happened to be Hermes). To date, as a bag master she has accomplished so much including winning many competition such as 1st prize of European Design Competition Alferd Lamarthe in Paris for an innovative design and for a Futuristic Unisex Briefcase.

Aigner bags, according to her are made using only the finest quality of leather. Because the bags at Aigner are made using real leather it’s only natural that they will have slight differences in texture because real leather differ slightly and they will never be an exact match between one another. I learned a lot that afternoon, such as the way to handle bags. The bag master told us herself that real leather bags should never be stored in an airtight plastic because the leather will need to breathe and putting it in plastic will not allow it to breathe therefore will only make your leather dehydrated and loose its suppleness.

She also told us to never use wet cloth to clean dirt or stain from your leather bags, use slightly damp cloth and wipe it carefully. In the event of heavy staining, the only thing that you could do to make it go away, is according to her ‘buy a new bag!’ Clever isn’t it? Just the reason for us to get a new bag, we surely need one!

Buettner also said that in creating a bag there are a lot of steps involved, it varied from 120 – 200 steps in average. So the combination of high quality leather and the many steps involved in creating the bags is what you’re paying for and that is why a good quality leather bag can cost so much.

Buettner at her work station embossing customer’s initials on their leather goods

I’m sure when you check your parents’ wardrobe you’re bound to find something from Aigner if you haven’t got one yourself. I have a belt which is a hand-me-down from my dad that lasted for more than 10 years and I’m still using it until now. That’s what good quality leather is supposed to do, last for a very long time.