Lancel Signature
2016
Lancel is a well-known French luxury brand known for its traditional craftsmanship and modern style. We were tasked as a product innovation firm with developing a line of zippered wallets that not only respected Lancel's traditions and style, but also incorporated cutting-edge technology to meet the needs of the brand's nomadic and connected clientele. Our goal was to seamlessly integrate a discrete and aesthetic technological module capable of charging any smartphone while maintaining the wallet's minimalist design.
The first step in the process was to conceptualise the idea and create a design that was true to the Lancel spirit. Each line of the wallet was meticulously drawn by our design team to ensure that it perfectly captured the essence of the brand. We wanted to create a design that would appeal to Lancel's modern clientele while also preserving the brand's traditional craftsmanship.
The most difficult aspect of this project was integrating technology into the wallet. We had to make sure that we respected French know-how and leather goods tradition while incorporating the technological module. To accomplish this, we clad the battery casing in leather and added perforations that reveal light visual cues. We also included a flat edge to which we applied a slice dye so that we could seamlessly sew the module to the wallet.
After validating the co-designed solution, we began mass production by creating moulds. Blue, red, black, and camel were the four colours used to edit the series. Our goal was to create a product that not only met Lancel's high quality standards, but could also be sold globally. Therefore, we obtained the certifications required to comply with the regulations of various countries and manage the logistics for our client.
