Aswad's Sonia Ahmimou
Photo: Courtesy of Aswad
Growing up in Nice, in the South of France, Sonia Ahmimou wanted to be an architect. Figuring that hand-craftsmanship would be a good starting point, she set about learning tapestry. A few years later, she moved to the French capital and knocked on the door at Louis Vuitton’s leather-working atelier in Asnières, outside Paris. She landed a job immediately. /react-text
Today, at 28, Ahmimou is one of the rare few who can claim experience with a triple crown of French luxury houses: Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Moynat. Last year, she decided to strike out on her own. For Fall, she recently unveiled Aswad (“black” in literary Arabic), a “modernized French heritage” collection of classically made, minimalist, unisex leather accessories. Featuring a handful of styles in a series of just 97 pieces, each is made in Paris from natural, sustainable leathers. Ahmimou recently sat down with Vogue to talk about growing up a “weird dresser,” how a bag should stand on its own, and what all her tattoos mean.
Why “Aswad?”
Growing up, my mother spoke French and my father spoke both French and Moroccan Arabic, which we used at home. Aswad means black in literary Arabic. Black is something beautiful and very profound that speaks to everyone, and me in particular. It also means a black stone,alhajar aswad , a sacred stone at Mecca. Mineral and black are two words that really resonate with me.
Did you always want to be a handbag designer?
I’ve always been very manual; I love creating things with my hands, creating shapes and volume. I figured that if I knew how to make things I could design them, whereas the reverse isn’t necessarily the case. So tapestry seemed like a good place to start. When I moved to Paris, I starting getting interested in bags. When I started working at Louis Vuitton, I met a wonderful craftsman who taught me everything. And I found architecture in bags, in the sense that there’s volume, organization, a structure. It needs to stand on its own. It has to serve a need, just as a house does. And I threw myself into creating leather goods, heart and soul. When I moved to Hermès, it was like an explosion. Once again, I met wonderful craftspeople who generously taught me so many things, especially about leather, because at Hermès there is such a wealth of knowledge there. That’s where I learned how to develop bags, create a pattern, and design.
Were fashion and luxury part of your landscape growing up?
My mother was an antique dealer. She had a boutique in Cannes and she also did all the markets. Just before the clients showed up, I would go around picking up little objects, generally leather goods. All the vendors knew me, and sometimes they’d give me beautiful bags in crocodile, alligator, or ostrich from another time. Also, clothes. I had a lot of vintage clothing. I was a really weird dresser.
Did you have a favorite piece?
I really, really loved a big men’s shirt that I bought when I was 14 and still wear. I wore it as a dress in the summer, with a little belt, and I’d tuck it into pants in the winter. Since I was scrawny and tall, I was totally swimming in it. There was no label, but it’s in this beautiful serge cotton and the collar was stiff but isn’t anymore.
How do you land a job so young at a house like Vuitton?
The tapestry atelier where I worked was fairly prestigious and I love well-made things, beautiful finishings, craftsmanship, and noble materials. So once I got to Paris, I thought, Why not? So I knocked on the door of the Vuitton atelier, and it worked. It has a very family-like ambiance. So, especially, does Hermès. Everyone knows each other, looks after each other.
Who are your mentors?
I had one at every house. At Louis Vuitton, I got along really well with a trunkmaker who taught me lots of things. At Hermès, it was a leather artisan. At Moynat, it was Ramesh [Nair, the creative director] and the head of the studio.
What were your biggest takeaways?
I am obsessed with finishings. Hermès and Moynat are known for burnished edges, and learning how to do that was really great.
What about those tattoos?
The flowers I did a long time ago. The needles on my left arm are a reference to Achilles: Without my needles, I’d die. And since I’m always looking for a measuring tape, I had a couple of centimeters tattooed on my left index finger. That solved that problem!
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