As you can imagine, entrepreneurship attracts many new profiles, with more or less atypical career paths. In this closing week of France Design Week (September 7 to 28), it seemed obvious to us to tell you about the Dognin house, which has been labeled to be part of this movement. We had the opportunity to talk with one of these founders, Rafik Mahiout, passionate about art, innovation and Shopify services.
Through Dognin, we can discover an atypical and ambitious journey, which combines knowledge, know-how and convictions .
Innovation, a long history for the Dognin house
Hello Rafik, can you quickly present your activity to us?
It was the House that invented Lyon lace in the 19th century, itself born of the civilizations of the Silk Road. It is out of affection for this story that the first collection of bags was branded with this name, carrying with it this French refinement and this taste for beautiful things and a job well done .
Basically, I am an engineer by training. Between conviction, passion and profession, I gradually moved towards craftsmanship, but in a very specific way and turned towards art . My partner Luc comes from this great family of lacemakers. He has always been passionate about fashion, creation and craftsmanship, while I myself was passionate about architecture and history. By combining our knowledge and our convictions, we gave birth to Dognin in March 2000, with the presentation of our first collection of bags. It was the beginning of a long adventure, at the crossroads of artistic professions and innovation .
Art as a spearhead
At the beginning, we started to work like sculptors, creating models, until obtaining a successful product. For example, for the Sologne bag, considerable work was done on the weight of the bag and the finesse of the handle. It's a real craftsmanship, coupled with a quest for perfection.
French know-how
Over the years, Dognin has become an innovative luxury leather goods brand that has attracted international attention, particularly the Japanese market. We are a small structure, we work in our workshops, in Paris, in the XVIII ᵉ arrondissement, in Barbes and yet, we have managed to reach the international market thanks to our work. It is an assumed bias, since we wanted to keep French manufacturing, and master our working tool , in absolute respect for artisanal know-how. We then embarked on something rare and authentic rewarded by obtaining the label "Made in Paris" last year.
Bag Sologne, emblematic of the artisanal collection.
Created as part of an agreement with the Domaine National de Chambord and first prize for the “Made in Paris” Label in the Fashion & Accessories category in December 2018
The Shopify Solution
Building your Shopify site has been truly beneficial to both of you. Can you explain to me how Shopify has established itself as the right solution?
At the start, we started from nothing and managed to create a very elaborate website. We had taken two years to build everything, but following an unexpected update, everything was erased overnight. We were completely confused and helpless. But in the course of some discussions, I heard about the Pikka agency and its Shopify solution .
Start all over again with Pikka and Shopify
We rebuilt the entire e-commerce site and updated our ideas, including new photos and content. I really like the ease of use offered by the Shopify interface . We were able to ask ourselves the right questions, while still being guided by the Pikka team of experts . In the end, it was a blessing in disguise. We were able to recreate a new web sales space, in total harmony with the values of the brand: ethical, innovative and refined. For me, all this works like a puzzle that combines innovation, image and the web. And it is towards this type of hybrid product that the values of the Dognin brand tend. Today, the site is not yet finished, but we are very happy with it and the Pikka team is very caring!
Reaching the Asian market is a crazy adventure for the Goutte d'Or craftsmen. How did you stand out?
The modernization of craftsmanship
There is no limit to the imagination. Our collections are based on creation, innovation, the renewal of forms and their uses, going as far as the interior of the bags. The aim is to modernize craftsmanship to open up new possibilities for creation and innovation.
The meeting of innovation and craftsmanship
To achieve the desired result, we had to rework certain old skills. We have developed an innovation patent on the consistency of the material, which makes it possible to obtain a composite material from leather and fabric . This technical textile allows a very particular elasticity of the material. Thus, it brings a three-dimensional shape, with shape memory and a more flexible consistency . We then obtain volumes that are more structured, more flexible and lighter (due to the economy of materials). At the same time, this patent requires the development of new innovations and new tools : a dedicated fluid and ecological glue, specific tools and the manufacture of a machine with the Ecole Centrale de Lille, to give this shape so specific to leather. and our bags.
An eco-responsible vision
All this research for innovation is part of a sustainable development approach: doing more with less and with better materials . And thanks to these innovations, we will be able to create new registers, with new, more flexible shapes. I can't wait to be able to develop the new collections resulting from the technologies of this patent and to see our customers adopt them.
A responsible and immersive brand
How do you see what's next for Dognin?
A client wanted to know the whole process of creating her bag, down to the smallest detail. We then had the idea of taking photos at each stage of its manufacture. From this experience, I had the idea of integrating these to the site, but rather in the form of a video . This will allow us to affirm our identity and gain transparency with our customers . Now all we have to do is shoot those videos, embed them into the site to connect with our customers, and complete our Shopify site. And we are going to have our website translated into Japanese. And for the rest, we will see where the imagination takes us.
The Dognin house is living proof that e-commerce is reserved for everyone and allows an openness to digital, without distinction. If like them, you want to get into e-commerce and digitize your trader or craftsman activity , then do not hesitate, contact us .
