Etienne Aigner

Our beloved founder and forever inspiration, Etienne Aigner, was born in Hungary to a close-knit Jewish family who taught him the value of education and hard work. As a young man he would make his living as a carpet merchant, a window dresser, and a light bulb salesman. While apprenticing under a well known bookbinder in Paris, Mr. Aigner also learned to make handbags from a colleague in what he described as a u201cfortuitous accident.u201dLuck would always play a role in Mr. Aigneru2019s life; itu2019s no coincidence that his iconic logo was styled to resemble a horseshoe, a universal symbol for good luck. Living in German-occupied Paris, he was forced to flee to the countryside where he became a member of the French Resistance. He and his Parisian-born wife Suzanne supported their family by hand-stitching leather goods. When it was safe to return, he had the good fortune of working in the ateliers of famed couturiers Christian Dior and Jacques Fath. The latter would help guide Mr. Aigneru2019s approach to handbag design, telling him that u201ca bag had to be constructed intelligently; being unique was not enough.u201du201cFath declared that if I worked according to this principle, this would not only result in the bagu2019s selling, it would also result in that type of bag being kept and sold long-term in the stores,u201d he wrote. Eventually, producing critically praised, best-selling handbags featuring other designersu2019 names and logos on them began to wear thin, and the former bookbinder began to look toward his next chapter.