Berluti gives the classic novella Le Petit Prince the richly crafted treatment.

Berluti’s latest capsule collection brings Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s philosophical fable to life through leather accessories, interpreting the cosmic voyager’s adventures on Earth through artisanal techniques. The Trois Nuit bag renders the mountain that underscores his loneliness as a laser-scored landscape, while the Un Jour de Poche bag evokes the fox who teaches him about friendship, with trompe l’oeil fur created with washes of orange and yellow watercolor.

This marks the first time that the Maison has brought its craftsmanship into dialogue with literature. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 philosophical tale tells the story of a pilot who, after his plane crashes in the Sahara Desert, meets a young boy, the Little Prince, whose fascination with a rose and journey across the asteroids reveal fundamental truths: “what is essential is invisible to the eye” and “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly.”&nbsp;

Following this theme of calling attention to the invisible, the Maison illuminates the invisible dimension of their designs by elevating leather into its own third language, alongside writings and drawings. On the Alessandro shoe, the sotto pelle technique helps breathe new life into the Little Prince’s beloved rose.&nbsp;

Berluti x Le Petit Prince. Courtesy of Berluti.

The motif is set at the foundation of the shoe, beneath the leather and at the outset of the process before the shoe is constructed, then gradually revealed using the osso, a traditional tool, until it emerges in relief. Finally, the Jet Black patina, touched with a hint of Grenat, recalls the vibrant colour of the rose’s petals.

Often discovered in childhood and rediscovered in adulthood, the novella’s drawings are as integral to the story as its words. For example, when the Little Prince first meets the pilot, he asks the aviator to draw him a sheep. After several failed attempts, the aviator at last draws a box, stating that the sheep is inside. This delights the Little Prince, revealing his imagination and reinforcing his ability to love and appreciate the invisible.&nbsp;

In accordance with this theme, the Maison returned to Saint-Exupéry’s sketchbooks to rediscover the origins of the work, where the author’s drawing, writing, and thought developed in tandem. On the Un Jour bag, fragments of text and sketches, first applied using laser technology before the Cacao Intenso patina, intertwine and overlap as they would across the pages of a notebook.&nbsp;

The house also adopts a painterly technique to its beloved patina, modulating texture and color to metamorphose the surface of the leather. On the Trois Nuits bag, individual pieces of leather are worked flat like a puzzle before being assembled to reveal an uninterrupted mountain landscape from The Little Prince. Starting from a grey base, colours are applied layer by layer, while tattooing highlights the lines and details of the drawing.

Berluti’s collection crafts a world where the writer’s line leaves the page and dazzles into art. Continuing the journey begun by Saint-Exupéry, Berluti’s artisans have given us a new sensory and sartorial way of rediscovering a timeless story.&nbsp;

Berluti x Le Petit Prince. Photo Courtesy of Berluti.

Le Patina Prince: Inside Berluti’s Artful Tribute to Le Petit Prince

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