ÉTUI – A COLLABORATION BETWEEN SASKIA DIEZ AND TSATSAS
With ÉTUI, Saskia Diez and Esther & Dimitrios Tsatsas are presenting a collaboration that combines the three designers’ respective fields of expertise – a protective leather case
for the favorite items of jewelry.
What the designs of Saskia Diez and Esther & Dimitrios Tsatsas have in common is their attention to every little detail, however small it may be. “We work on different scales, but with the same devotion and obsession,” explains Esther Tsatsas. What the jewelry pieces by Munich-based designer Saskia Diez and the bags and accessories by TSATSAS always have in common is a twist, something idiosyncratic that sets them apart from pieces that obey the conventional rules of design. The trio question, they optimize, and look for their very own ways through the design process.
The three designers have known each other for many years and had been toying with the idea of a joint project for a long time. It would have to be a combination of jewelry and bag if they were to collaborate and so they came up with the idea of a jewelry case, but one that would both store the pieces at home and keep them safe on trips away from home.
The result is ÉTUI, which comes in two different formats – the smaller version, which is a square case, and the larger rectangular version with compartments of several sizes. The cases thus boast enough space for jewelry items of all shapes and sizes.
ÉTUI is made of soft lamb’s nappa leather that has gone through a special tanning process, allowing it to be used with precious metals. This soft leather not only protects jewelry items, at the same time it provides information about the contents of the relevant case, with the shape of the jewelry pieces showing through the soft leather – a kind of game with the feel of the different materials and something for which the designers have consciously opted.
The cases have something sensuous about them, with the soft feel of the fine lamb’s nappa leather in perfect harmony with Saskia Diez’s delicate jewelry. ÉTUI can be closed by means of a seamed leather strap which is wrapped around the case and is decorated with a tube made of recycled brass. The logos of the partners in the joint venture have been embossed onto the leather on the inside of the cases.
Similarly to the situation with Saskia Diez, whose jewelry pieces are crafted in close collaboration with expert goldsmiths in Munich and its surroundings, TSATSAS also has its work exclusively produced locally at the family’s own workshop run by Dimitrios’ father, only 10 km away from the label’s studio in Frankfurt/Main – it is also here that ÉTUI is crafted by hand. Short distances to the workshop and products that are simultaneously modern and timeless, as well as enduring in terms of both materials and design form the basis of the sustainable work by Saskia Diez and Esther & Dimitrios Tsatsas and the thinking behind ÉTUI.
ÉTUI comes in black lamb’s nappa with details in gold and will be available from June 2021 at
www.saskia-diez.com and at www.tsatsas.com

Material:
soft lamb nappa leather, brass
Measurements:
about 20cm x 12cm, 2 bigger and 6 smaller compartments