Atelier PALL was founded in 1955 by Anton Pal. They manufacture small premium quality leather items including wallets, iPhone cases, key rings belts etc.
We love their quality and design and have featured three of their wallets on minimalwallet.net already. We contacted them recently for information about their design / manufacture process.
Q. Briefly tell us about Atelier PALL who you are and how you got started?
A. Atelier PALL is at it’s third generation of craftsmen, taking traditional leather working into the realm of Internet, laser machines and vector patterns while trying to keep the beeswax and wooden stitching horse in the center of it’s dynamics. With a solid local history in shoe-making, the small leather goods department is built on a steady foundation as it was launched a couple of years ago. It was initiated as a natural answer to basic needs for ourselves and it quietly developed over time preserving the essential needs and nothing more. A couple of years ago we decided to launch the first mini-collection and feedback was encouraging enough for us to pursue this project.
Q. What made you decide to make wallets, card holders etc?
A. Wallets and such make a great buying experience. You round up your needs and you look for it. I was always fascinated with my new wallet for a couple of days after buying it. But over time we have learned that machine sewn wallets and thin leather and canvas and glue don’t really go a long way together. Having the Atelier (workshop) gave us the opportunity to start experimenting. Needless to say we considered the prototypes good enough and realized we needed less than we thought. This was when we put the “minimal” into our wallets.
Q. Are you looking to add any other designs? What’s the future hold for Atelier PALL?
A. Yes, we are about to launch a couple of designs next month and we are very excited about them. They are improved designs based on current items. Each concept takes a couple of steps – it commences with a need/function. That usually dictates the design and structure while trying to maintain the aesthetics of our branding. Various patterns and materials are built. We always take “the new one” for a drive test – a couple of weeks. If it’s good enough for us I hope it’ll be for customers too. So I guess we don’t have a constant item, as we always try out our prototypes. I hope the future brings high end materials to our collection and thoughtful designs that will rise up to the demands of a modern and dynamic world. Definitely minimal wallets will become our priority.
Q. Which famous person would you love to get an order from for one of your wallets? and why?
A. Unfortunately he’s not around anymore, and it may sound somewhat of a cliche, but I would have to say Mr. Jobs. I chose him both for being a controversial person in a good way and for being a rebel mind that has inspired an entire world. But most of all we love that he made things simple and useful for the end user even if that was only possible due to a huge amount of work and innovation and failure and passion which no one cared about. I think he would carry around a minimal Atelier PALL wallet in his jeans pocket, in his rebel years of youth, in a parallel universe…