Valentine Huyghues Despointes – Leather craftsman

Île-de-France – 1985

Valentine Huyghues Despointes worked at Studio Berçot in 2008/2009. Then, she earned a diploma in saddlery/leather goods at Ateliers Grégoire in 2013. With her knowledge and her talent, she has realised pieces for luxury brands. Among these brands, there are Fauré le Page, Bergdorf Goodman, Dior, hôtel Meurice, Baccarat and Louis Vuitton.

In 2014, she decided to create her workshop in which she models delicate leathers in a poetic and a dreamlike jungle universe with coloured animals in stylized shapes.

Her taste and her passion for leather has been influenced by her father activity, a leather craftsman specialized in cars collection.

Since 2020, Mélanie Durand has joined the workshop and has been helping Valentine Huyghues Despointes to make the company grow.  She has six years of experiences in conception and creation of leather good prototypes. She adds her knowledge to Valentine Huyghues Despointes’s creativity and together, they create decorative and unexpected objects.

Research and innovation

Valentine Huyghues Despointes draws and creates unique pieces with recycle leather. With an art sensibility she realises made-to-measure project with a great elegance. Her works are beyond leathering because of her creation research and her great imagination.

Insatiable in her appropriation of the creation process, she conceives coloured pieces inspired of the nature with a great freedom. She explores the leather material by creating furniture collections such as bags, and accessories. All the materials are recycled leather coming from top of the range leather loss.

Will to transmit

Valentine Huyghues Despointes teaches the techniques of the leather to several apprentices in her workshop and to students at Beaux-Arts of Versailles.

The know-how transmission is a part of her mission as a leather craftsman: she trains Mélanie Durand, her new partner. Since September 2021, they have been creating Do It Yourself kits with the will to bring their know-how into public’s houses.

Fondation Rémy Cointreau is pleased to support Valentine Huyghues Despointes with the repairs of her leather splitter, essential device for a leather craftsman.