Based at the Château de Bogard, on the Brittany coast, the daring Albatros-Malletier company offers an original and original range of exceptional pieces dedicated to travel or interior decoration, and a handcrafted production based on excellent know-how.
By Romain Rivière
Few would have bet on him five years earlier. Launching a brand of luxury trunks, at the age of 70, from the Côtes d’Armor, was an impossible task. However, this was to forget the audacity and passion of Michel Simon, founder in 2015 of Albatros-Malletier. He had promised his grandfather, Oscar-André Simon, when he was eight years old: one day, he too would be a trunk-maker. 62 years later, the promise was to be fulfilled. “I needed a passion that was still intact, the ability to finance without a loan, and access to the know-how of the best French craftsmen, journeymen and workers. And that, at the age of 30, I didn’t have”, says Michel Simon.
Five years after its creation, thanks to the financial support of 224 friends and associates, Albatros-Malletier is still there. But fate cruelly struck this young company, when in October 2016, Louis-Philippe Simon, its first and short-lived president, son of the founder, was taken by a lightning stroke. A sign from heaven? A young and talented designer, Mathieu Le Quentrec, appeared and supported Michel in this delicate and painful period. A friendship was born as well as an artistic complicity. Thus, both have determined the fundamentals, the style and the DNA of Albatros-Malletier, making this new atypical brand enter the world of Luxury. A legitimate alternative to the big names in luxury trunks, this astonishing and still young Breton company has succeeded in imposing its brand name based on innovative products and high quality manufacturing. Its exceptional pieces, trunks and luggage, dedicated to travel and interior decoration, are designed to equip yachts and prestigious homes and carry the colors of the great French tradition of art craftsmanship. Their inspiration is not hidden: it is that of the novels of Agatha Christie, of which the founder is fond. “My whole life has been influenced by these atmospheres and I have remained nostalgic for a time when the luxury was to enjoy every moment,” he explains.
One brand, two ranges. The first, dedicated to immobile travelers, revolves around a completely new eco-chic trunk, named Agatha. Designed in cork panels made from recycled champagne corks and bent according to a patented process, and sheathed in natural linen from sustainable agriculture, it is placed on four wheels and is intended to seduce individuals as well as professionals in the field of interior design, the hotel industry or even the major champagne houses. Its lower part, refrigerated, has a service cellar while the upper part, fitted out as a bar, has glass shelves and LED lighting. The other range, dedicated to a mobile clientele, is based on luxury cases, designed with the same concern for excellence and exclusivity with the precious help of the best French craftsmen and the Compagnons du Devoir.
