About the brand
The design process
At AESAERT, we don't work with seasonal pieces. We believe in timeless designs for you to enjoy year-round.
Our standard shades of Belgian leather are black, camel, mahogany red, sage green, emerald green and peony pink. These colours are sometimes complemented by a limited shade.
A new design usually originates from the request of a client. Working in partnership with the client, Griet looks for the right design and develops a prototype. This first design is extensively tested and modified, until it feels 100% right. It can happen that a design remains a “prototype” for 4 years before it is finally ready to join the permanent collection.
Our leather
The leather we use is a secondary material. It comes from cattle that graze in fields in Scotland and Scandinavia. While the meat goes to the meat industry, the skins go directly to Belgium's best tannery. The tanning is done without any chrome, but instead with the bark of mimosa and chestnut trees. This makes the process as environmentally friendly as possible, while extending the leather's durability.
Our vegetable-tanned leather is sturdy and is naturally kneaded to reach the great flexibility that makes our AESAERT bags so comfortable to wear.
AESAERT
AESAERT was born in 2009 in Zürich, where Griet Aesaert used to work as an architect at Gigon - Guyer.
Griet lived next to a small leather shop where she would occasionally buy scrap leather. With these scraps, she started to experiment and got a taste for sewing and creating.
After 3 years of living in Zürich, Griet returned to Belgium and worked as an architect for Pascal François and Stéphane Beel. In her free time, she took a course in leatherwork.
In 2014, Griet opened her own, very small atelier in Ghent, where she could pursue her creative passion for leather design, while still working as an architect.
As the interest in her handcrafted bags grew, Griet decided to take a leap in 2018 and fully committed to AESAERT.
Since then, AESAERT has been known for its timeless, elegant and practical handbags. Griet still makes the majority of the collection in her studio in Ghent, but also has a small production to be able to keep up with the demand.
