Before a Launer product is made, our cutters carefully select skins which have been specially tanned for us and then cut in a way that ensures only the most mark-free and beautiful area is used. The parts are then sent for skiving and splitting, which is a technique to refine and thin the leather at the edges so that they can be turned. All Launer handbags and leather goods are turned so that you never see a raw edge.
The next step is assembling the article, and this is the most complex and time consuming. Experienced craftspeople carefully fit all the parts together by hand, and work with the sewing machinists to ensure the final piece is perfect. Each item we manufacture is inspected at all stages, and we work with our colleagues in the factory constantly, discussing manufacturing and quality. Our aim is that every Launer piece should give pleasure and satisfaction for many years.
Our design team, led by Gerald Bodmer, the Managing Director, travels throughout Europe looking at design trends. Our pattern makers then turn our designs into reality, making a Launer item classic, with style and elegance.
Gerald Bodmer learnt the leather goods trade at a company which, at the time, had the Royal Warrant to Her Majesty the Queen, the late Queen Mother. After some time he left and founded his own company, which manufactured handbags and personal leather goods for other companies such as Bally, Mappin and Webb, and Asprey.
