TANN visits Lukas Trumpp of si précis
He arrives at eight.
Coffee first. Emails after.
At ten, the work begins.
Lukas Trumpp runs si précis, a small leather atelier in Berlin.
Everything is made to order, by hand.
Little stock.
No production line.
Just material, tools, and time.
TANN: Who are you, and what happens here?
LT: I’m Lukas. This is my atelier. I make leather goods by hand.
Mostly small accessories, but also larger pieces like bags.
Everything is cut and stitched by hand, using traditional methods.
How did this start?
A school project. I was fifteen.
I made a bag, badly stitched, very heavy. It stayed with me. I figured: if I give it my all, I can turn materials into product. This is my ethos to this day.
Why did you decide to do this full-time?
It took time.
At some point, my wife said I should stop waiting.
That it would be a waste not to do it properly.
Who comes to you?
Very different people.
Someone who wants a strap for a watch they inherited.
Someone who has been thinking about a bag for years. Men and women, students, retired people... People who value the work.
What makes a good project?
Time.
And someone who intends to use the piece.
I’m not interested in making things that end up on a shelf. And I tend to tell customers that upfront.
What are you working on at the moment?
A briefcase in velour leather.
It’s not a typical choice of material, but it will age well.
Darker in some places, lighter in others.
That’s part of it.
What role do materials play?
They decide a lot.
Calf, crocodile, ostrich – all behave differently. If you are not precise, you see it immediately.
What does a typical day look like?
Mornings are mostly emails and organisation.
From ten onwards, it’s making: It put on my apron. And then it's all about cutting, stitching, finishing.
That goes on until the afternoon.
Do you have rituals?
Yes. Sharpening tools.
Especially the knives.
You cut a few times, they get dull.
Then you sharpen again. That repeats throughout the day, roughly fifteen times.
What tools matter most?
A hammer I’ve had for years.
A gift.
It’s better now than when I got it.
It has developed over time.
Is there a material that challenges you?
Ostrich can be difficult.
It’s more fragile.
Crocodile as well.
There’s no room for error. But I must say, if I pay the utmost attention, no material is a real challenge. I would rather describe it as character.
You recently worked with an artist. What was that like?
Very intense.
We built a piece from deerskin, entirely by hand closely together with the artist Hani Hape on the project B'ini, Sunset Salute. Each apron was individually designed, cut, and handcrafted from high-quality, vegetable-tanned leather.
No machines. Everything stitched traditionally.
“It looks simple, but it isn’t.”
There were many details, many decisions.
We worked late, over several nights.
“One of the best projects I’ve done.”
Do you work alone?
Yes.
I leave in the afternoon, sometimes come back in the evening.
It depends on what needs to be done.
Is there something you would like to make but haven’t yet?
A trunk.
In the English way of construction.
It would take months.
You have to be able to afford that time.
What came first, the interest in objects or the making itself?
The making.
I started by trying things.
Only later did I realise that the results could be something worth keeping.
What matters most in your work?
Keeping things simple. And getting them right.
