Goyard introduced its personalisation service to customers in Singapore with an exclusive marquage (french for “marking”) event where an artisan from Goyard’s Parisian headquarters was specially flown in to demonstrate the art of marquage, which has been around since the maison’s founding in 1853.
Le marquage was born out of necessity in the nineteenth century as travel became increasingly popular. It was before the advent of jet planes—when wooden trunks were de rigeur—and well-heeled clients needed a convenient way for porters to identify their wooden trunks as they disembarked from steam trains and luxury cruise liners. Hand-painted stripes, badges and initials thus became distinguishing marks on the luggage of the globetrotting elite.
While no one travels with wooden trunks anymore, save maybe for celebrities and that odd billionaire, le marquage finds contemporary relevance with clients wishing to personalise their product and make it uniquely theirs. It is not only luggage that are custom-painted today, many Goyard clients also have their small leather goods or bags personalised. Customers can choose the traditional initials/stripes option or commission their own unique artwork to add a personal touch to their products.
At the marquage event, the skilled artisan demonstrated the know-how and technique involved in personalizing a Goyard product. Precise measurements were taken and manual calculations were made to ensure that the painted letters were perfectly centred. (Of course, should you fancy a non-centred positioning of your initials, Goyard’s artisans would be happy to oblige with the same precision.) Outlines of the letters were first drawn before the colours were painted in. Goyard uses its own exclusive paints made from natural pigments that ensure colour-fastness while maintaining the suppleness of the Goyardine canvas.
Feeling inspired to personalise your Goyard bag after what you’ve seen? Goyard helps customers visualise how their product will look like after customisation via an interactive simulator on its website where they can see how different combinations of stripes and letters will look like on the different colours of Goyardine canvas. After deciding on the desired combination, customers can receive the specifications via email to bring along to the Goyard store where a dedicated staff can process the order.
Below: Our attempt at using Goyard’s customisation simulator:
However, the online simulator only offers a limited range of personalisation possibilities: many more are available exclusively at Goyard’s Ngee Ann City boutique where you can receive expert and professional advice regarding the customisation of your product. The marquage service is available to all customers; existing Goyard customers can have their bags or small leather goods painted even if they have already been used.
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