MAISON STRATAPARIS
Maison Strata / A creative journalPORTALE · STRATE 01

A summer
to carry.

An open sketchbook, kept as the work goes

Before the bag, there was a summer. A light I wanted to keep. A pebble that sat perfectly in my hand.

PORTALE is still being made. Here I show everything: the sketches, the trials, what works and what I go back to.

Step inside
Still water and the pale limestone cliffs of the Calanques
01 / What remains of a summerCalanques, Mediterranean

Keep something
of this light.

01 / FeelPlaces become ideas

From one shore
to another.

I started from Provence. My eye travels further: North African courtyards, Italian façades, the shade of Spanish arcades. The Mediterranean taught me how to look at form.

A pebble picked up draws the hand. An arch draws the eye. I was looking for that same balance in something you wear: sculptural, simple, soft. The name came with the shape. Portale, in Italian, is the gateway. An arch, a half moon. And it just sounded right.

Provence · Italy · Spain · North Africa
Photograph of overlapping thin pale travertine tiles, showing their natural pores and edges
Material study / Travertine
Frank Petry / Marmormagia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Web format

Leave some roughness.
Let the material speak.

A page from the codex
Illustrated plate from the Maison codex: capital studies and construction lines
Codex illustration / Architecture as a vocabulary of forms.

I observe, I draw, I look for a proportion. Ancient forms still guide my drawing.

I had the light. The line was still to find.Continue

02 / DrawReturn to the line

A line takes
finding.

First a pebble, for the volume. Then an opening, a handle: the drawing leaves the stone and becomes a bag. I go back over the line. Too tight here. Too full there. Until the eye glides without ever stopping.

A hand holds sketches of the handle and attachments above stone and a cutting mat
Ideas on paper. Details worked through by hand.

More volume.
Above all, more continuity.

A hand traces the outline of PORTALE in pen on a sheet resting on travertine
The outline, redrawn by hand. Until the crescent.
01 the stoneCalanques, summerpebble, Calanquesthe hand knows itkeep that. the softnessside on: flat, softwhat if that was the bag?solid? far too heavythe weighthollow it… a shell?solid: it sinkshollowed: it comes back upkeystonearch… the handle?moonthe pebble, bittena crescent.the starting point.porta… portale?
02 the proportionφ = (1 + √5) / 2 = 1,6181 1 2 3 5 8 13 21…what if h / w = φ?lovely on paperbut the opening closesthe hand won’t go inratio brokenbeautiful, yes. but alive?other tries√2 = 1,4144 / 3by eye, then measurethe hand must go ineven with a ringnot a circletauter at the base, why does it work?amphora, same tension?travertine. pores, layers
03 the volumetoo tighttoo full, heavy lookingbetter?the eye should glide, not stopfrom aboveflatball0,400,42 ?inside? phone, keys, card, lipstick7.5 cm < 11 cm opening: it goes inbut it sticks out?? only justkeys, card, lipstick: okwalking…does it knock the hip?flat on the body side?
04 the openinghow does it open? one hand? walking?zip?breaks the linea flap?hides the curve, nothe line first. alwayslips that overlaptestedstays shut on its own, goodbut the hand catchestwo lines instead of oneit constrains everything?what if the edges just methiding nothing?to be continued, belowPortale… opens like a door?
05 carrying, weightdoes the handle cut the shoulder?too thin? wider?worn, it must stay beautifulfrom behind too?centre of gravitytoo far forward? does it tilt?too low?? gstone: noshell: how much?every gram countshand?elbow?shoulder????portalePortalePORTALEworn… Portale. it rings
06 material, hardnesssoft?folds, packs away, prettyset down: it sagsno line left at allsemi rigidlight, comfortablebut the handle pullsdoes the shell give?Fδ ~ F L³ / e³t/2 = δ x4x8a rib at the neck: it holdsfirmholds the linethe stone readsbut knocks? scratches?cold? rain?travertine, Tivoli… the Colosseum still standson trialon trialsoft: no. firm or semi rigid: two roadsthe prototype will decide, in hand and on the shoulderon a table… it rocks??
07 version 15the length?front3/4the depthhand, shoulder… both?adjustable?the paletteivorytaupebrass×10, the skinmatt, open poressection: shell, liningtaupe leather, fine grainthe rivet, brassthe versionsv1 … v8v9, v10, v11v12 / v13v14? almost15the hand goes inthe eye glidesit holds the linea stone… you can carryOKPortale, this one.
Emir’s hand, at the first line.Sketchbook / V15
In the margin / The attachment

Where the shell meets the leather, I went back to the curve again and again. A little more volume, a softer rise: one detail changes the whole silhouette.

ILVNVLAThe lunulaTwo circles drawn with a compass, two radii, a slight offset. The crescent of Roman amulets.

RrΔLVNVLAchordAANSA · DEPOSITACview from aboveINCLINATIOBBNSMAGNESM5IIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXfirst curve

With the line found, it needed the right material.Continue

03 / ComposeA considered palette

Stone.
And its softness.

Ivory, sand and grey mineral samples compared under their protective wrapping
Comparing tones. September 2026.
Three spools of thread in brown and grey tones on a table
The tones, down to the thread.

The stone sets the tone. The leather connects it to the body. I look for that balance down to the colours.

Light rests on the surface. A pale tone, irregular pores, a matte travertine look.

Let light do the rest.

Then from paper to volume.Continue

04 / Shape
The work, in order

Explore,
then refine.

From drawing to volume, then to leather.

Three steps, photographed while the work was happening. Each version teaches the next one something.

the study shell, before V15.
  1. Step 01

    A previous version

    An earlier working version: the old form, a zip closure, and the search for the texture. It gave us the material; the form still had to be reworked.

    • the old form, zipped
    • barely unwrapped
  2. Step 02

    The study shell

    Not a bag, and not yet the final form: a shell pulled from a working mould, one of the forms studied and settled before V15. Holding it, looking inside, touching the surface: that is where you see what still needs work.

    • holding it
    • looking inside
    • the hand goes in
    • the surface, up close
    • the raw wall
  3. Step 03

    Leather, by hand

    The handle and its tabs: cutting, paring the edge, stitching one point after another.

    • working the edge
    • what the hand removes
    • paring
    • stitching
  4. Step 04 · in progress

    The final prototype

    Firm or semi rigid: both roads are on trial, and it will decide, in hand and on the shoulder. Its photographs will join this sketchbook.

Each version taught the next. Here is where they lead.Continue

05 / RevealThe final piece

Where all of this
leads.

The drawing, the material, the trials: everything converges on a single piece. This is PORTALE V15 as we intend it, emerging from the stone layer by layer. It may still be refined before the final prototype: you will see it here.

The images in this chapter are visualisations of the final piece. Delivery 4 to 6 months after the edition closes.

Layer by layer

First, a block.

Travertine, layer upon layer.

What matters most is still ahead: wearing it.Continue

06 / CarryFrom form to presence

Behind the scenes / October 2026

A gaze.
A presence.

The Maison’s first shoots, with our two models. Behind the scenes, Valentina takes us between shots. In the film, gestures meet material.

Valentina / @valongloria ↗

Music : Bossa Antigua — Kevin MacLeod.
CC BY 4.0 · Excerpt edited and mixed.

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MAISON STRATA / Behind the scenes

The first shoots

Between takes.

A smile, a few words. Then we begin again.
Valentina smiling with her hand in front of the lens between takes.
Valentina and Elodie pose together in white and brown dresses.
A close-up of Valentina laughing between takes.
A conversation between Valentina and Elodie during the shoot.
Elodie smiling with her hair down.

Between takes — October 2026

Visualisation of PORTALE V15 on a terrace table facing the sea, its taupe strap resting on the stone, beside a coffee and sunglasses
Visualisation · PORTALE V15

Let summer
stay a little longer.

The next page, with you.

One hundred numbered pieces, made to order. Those who order now do not receive a piece out of nowhere: they watch it being made, step by step, until delivery.

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