A New Day For Moynat: Nicholas Knightly On Moynat Intrinsic Appeal For Those With A Discerning Eye

Bazaar Arabia speaks with the house’s creative director to discuss quality, craftsmanship, and how creativity is a team sport

Luxury at its essence means quality and ingenuity – two elements that have been synonymous with the Moynat house since its inception in Paris in 1849. From its savvy idea in the early 19th century to colour-coordinate its travel trunks to the newly invented and hugely popular motorcar, to its utilising of the complex marquetry on leather goods technique, Moynat has always known how to capitalise on savoir faire and savoir vivre. So who better than Nicholas Knightly – with his commercial eye and uncompromising adherence to quality, as well as the wealth of experience he garnered from his time at Louis Vuitton – to restore the brand’s track record of leading innovation in luxury design.

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia (HBA): Did you know that this is what you wanted to do ever since you were a kid?

Nicholas Knightly (NK): The first thing I knew was that I enjoyed drawing and creating things, so I knew from a very young age that I didn’t want to do something in an office. I had an elder brother that went to art school, which opened up a path to me. It showed me that it’s something you could do.

HBA: Prior to Moynat you were at Mulberry for two years and then you were called to Louis Vuitton, where you stayed for 16 years. After all this time, what gets you up in the morning and keeps you going?

NK: The design process is in your blood, it’s not something you switch on and off. When you walk in and there are new samples or new colours, you feel the team really get excited. Ultimately it’s the joy of creating. It’s something that’s in you, like a dancer.

HBA: During your tenure at Louis Vuitton, you designed the Neverfull. How did you come to create such an iconic handbag?

NK: When I go to a brand I’m very interested in understanding what the brand is and how it fits into the market. Vuitton had an existing audience and everyone wants a Vuitton bag, so all you’ve got to do is design one that’s quite good!

HBA: They say creativity is a team sport, how important is your team to the work you produce?

NK: I always find it a bit awkward when everyone looks at you because it’s like, okay, I drew the thing, but all these people made it. The girls and guys in the atelier, they’re just unbelievable and they put their own personality into it. How they interpret a side construction, they’re putting their own judgement and their own skills, their own aesthetic layering on top of yours. The wrong idea put to the wrong modellist can kill an idea, but in another person’s hands, the idea can totally sing.

There’s a bag we are launching in June and the atelier made it really well and everyone you show it to says wow. This is quite rare, there’s that kind of chemistry with teams and recruiting them and knowing how to work with them is a skill in itself.

HBA: What is the kernel of Moynat that is going to take it from a quiet brand into something that is a little bit noisier? Or is that not the objective?

NK: We want to grow and we want people to know about it. There is an element of Moynat being sort-of secret, a little bit of discretion – an alternative to some of these bigger brands. This is a very nice part of the Moynat DNA.

HBA: So how would you describe the Moynat brand DNA?

NK: The alternative, smaller-brand atelier vibe is definitely one part, but the quality here is incredible. Quality is one of my biggest passions and here, it’s flawless. Everything is done the old-school way; handmade, artisanal, inherited and 100 per cent authentic. This is a dream for me. When you make hundreds of thousands of bags, little details get compromised. Here, there is zero compromise. Colour is also a huge part of the Moynat DNA. With these leathers, the colour is so saturated and they’re not super-finished, so when you’re touching them you’re touching leather, you haven’t got your fingers touching a finishing between that and the leather.

HBA: Does the finishing often change the colour slightly?

NK: Yes, and the touch. It can make things feel a bit more synthetic and can take the edge off the colour. So the very saturated, beautiful sort-of deep colour you get in these leathers is lovely.

HBA: Is there something specific about how Moynat products are made that sets them apart?

NK: We use marquetry. Which means individual pieces of leather are cut out and slotted in. People think it is printed or painted. But this is a speciality of Moynat. They replicate the organic line of a hand-painted thing in this marquetry so you get a kind of wobble that’s almost like someone’s done it with airbrush.

HBA: How does the history of Moynat fit into your vision for the future of the house? Is personalisation key?

NK: Actually I think a lot of work can be done to understand a lot more [about the history]. It was started by a woman, Pauline Moynat, but we don’t know much about her. Trying to find out more about the brand is on the long list of things to do – a bit of detective work. We know that they embraced cars quite early, they were very forward-thinking in the ’20s. You could have [your trunk] in the colour that matched your car. We offer the same service of hand-painting now, you can come to Paris and you can have your piece hand-painted, personalised, I find that really inspiring.

HBA: You joined just at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, what do you see in store for Moynat?

NK: Yes I first started in July 2020. This year it’s going to be a pivotal year, there’s a bit more communication, a big campaign coming out, a lot of new product. We’ve got a bag coming out in June that every single person that’s seen it has got super excited about.

Words by Imogene Legrand. Interview by Olivia Phillips

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s May 2022 issue.