The workshop
Room for two days away
How Atelier Nord makes the Weekender 48h, one piece at a time, and why it takes longer than it has to.
Words by Lena Kraus · Photos by Jon Ash
The Weekender 48h is cut from full-grain leather that starts out firm and ends up telling your story. Brass hardware, a cotton lining and one deep pocket for the things you always look for.
The workshop sits at the end of a gravel road, in a building that used to be a dairy. There is no sign on the door. Inside, it smells of wood oil and coffee, and the radio plays quietly while six people do one thing at a time, carefully.
Slow by design
Every piece is made in small batches. Materials are chosen by hand and left to rest before they are worked; parts are fitted, checked and fitted again. It is not the fastest way to make anything, and that is exactly the point.
We could make it faster. We just don’t want to.
Atelier Nord, founder
Look closely and you see the decisions: an edge rounded just enough to feel soft in the hand, a joint you can only find with your fingertips, a finish that will look better in ten years than it does today.
Built to stay
It fits two days of clothes, a pair of shoes and a book, and it goes into the overhead bin without a fight. We repair every bag we make, for as long as you own it.
When a piece leaves the workshop it carries a small card, signed by the person who finished it. It is a promise, really: that it was made to be used every day, and to be repaired rather than replaced.
