I. The Silence Before the Hammer Strikes
True quality is quiet. It needs no loud billboards nor seasonal trends. It speaks for itself—through the scent of tanned leather, the cool touch of a perfectly polished buckle, the sound of a needle piercing the hide in the rhythm of a century-old tradition.
In times of constant informational noise, we return to the silence of the workshop.
It was in that very silence, interrupted only by the rhythmic tapping of tools, that a collaboration was born—one that is not a business arrangement but a meeting of sensitivities. Two worlds that, at first glance, share nothing—scale, purpose, technology—yet are united by one thing: an almost obsessive insistence that material must become something more than just raw matter.
II. 1883: The Foundation of a Legend
The story reaches back to a time when the automobile was still only an engineer’s dream.
In 1883, on Warsaw’s Chmielna Street, Jan Kielman founded a workshop that would become a bastion of Polish craftsmanship.
For more than a century, the Kielman manufacture survived wars, political upheavals, and industrial revolutions. How? Through uncompromising principles. As the world accelerated toward mass production and ready-made solutions, Kielman slowed down. Where others saw a shoe size, they saw a person—with their anatomy, gait, and story.
Their workshop is a sanctuary of bespoke. Every pair of shoes is built on a wooden last carved individually to the client’s foot. The process takes weeks. It is alchemy—transforming calf leather into the wearer’s second skin. Statesmen, aristocrats, and artists such as Jan Kiepura or Charles de Gaulle wore their shoes for decades. That heritage is a responsibility—and proof that, even in a duel with the machine, the human hand still triumphs in its sensitivity.
III. Evolution: Malton Kielman
From this historic trunk grew a new branch—Malton Kielman. A natural evolution of mastery.
If classic Kielman protects our step, Malton Kielman accompanies us on our journey.
Specializing in bags and accessories, the manufacture transplanted shoemaking rigor into the world of luxury leather goods. It is not about stitching two pieces of leather together. It is about the architecture of an object. This is why they spend hours testing how a strap rests on a client’s shoulder in a blazer versus a coat, or whether a document pocket can be accessed with one natural movement—without looking.
Malton Kielman is leather engineering—understanding how exotic alligator behaves at a fold, how thick a thread must be to support weight while still looking like jewelry. Before the first bag is made, the leather does not go on a table—it goes into a master’s hands. The hand decides whether the material will endure years of travel or serve only as a prototype. This level of precision does not tolerate “good enough.”
IV. Carlex: The Automotive Counterpart
Meanwhile, in Czechowice-Dziedzice, Carlex Design was writing its own chapter in the book of craftsmanship.
Though our medium differs—steel, composites, hundreds of horsepower—our approach mirrors the philosophy from Chmielna.
In automotive, we are what Kielman is to shoemaking: a house of craftsmanship that creates not yearly collections, but pieces meant to last for decades. We are not interested in seriality. We seek that moment when the owner grips the steering wheel and feels it was made solely for their hands. Our atelier is not a factory. It is a tailoring workshop where a “suit” is sewn onto a car’s body.
Just like shoemaking masters, we start from a blank page and a conversation. We choose leather textures first from imagination and intent, only then from the catalogue. We engrave metal, patinate surfaces, sculpt seats—all so that a car stops being a machine and becomes a personal artefact. We understand material consistency—projects like the G-Falcon or G-Viking take months of matching patinated leather, engraved metals, and wood textures so the whole forms a single narrative instead of a collection of luxurious elements.
V. The Logic of Symbiosis
Why Carlex and Kielman?
Because true craftsmanship recognizes itself instantly.
The owners of both houses had known each other for years—with a respect reserved only for those who understand the weight of handmade work. Not for the industry, not for fashion, but for the very act of creation. Our collaboration did not begin at a negotiation table, but in a space where lasting things emerge: in a conversation about materials, the scent of leather, the weight of a tool in the hand.
We realized that industry divisions are an illusion. There is no real line between automotive, leathercraft, or fashion. There is only the difference between craftsmanship and mass production—and we choose the former without hesitation.
Carlex creates cars for collectors—those who surround themselves with objects bearing a soul. A client who appreciates a hand-formed dashboard in their Carlex Vintage G-Class will not place a random suitcase in the trunk. They need coherence. The answer was obvious: Kielman. Thus, the Carlex × Malton Kielman symbiosis emerged—not as a business project but as a logical necessity.
We share a common enemy: mediocrity. We share a common value: time devoted to material. We share a common DNA of luxury: humility before craft.
VI. The Total Collection: Luxury Without Boundaries
The result of this alliance is what we call a total collection: the erasure of boundaries between what you drive and what you carry.
Imagine stepping out of your car. Your hand leaves a steering wheel wrapped in patinated alligator leather in deep cognac. You reach for your travel bag—and magic happens: you feel no difference. The bag is crafted from the same batch of exotic leather. The same texture, the same scent, the same immaculate stitch executed with the same thread and technique. Your bespoke Kielman shoes complete the picture.
This is not “matching accessories.” It is the creation of a unified ecosystem.
A reality where every object you touch speaks the same language of mastery.
VII. The Boutique of Ultra-Craft: A New Definition of Purchasing
Our vision extends beyond products. Within Carlex Maison, we are creating a boutique concept that resembles a private atelier more than a showroom. A return to the origins of luxury retail, where the transaction is secondary to the relationship and the act of creation.
In our spaces, clients will not simply “configure a car.” They will compose a lifestyle. A place where you can simultaneously design a car interior, order bespoke shoes through the legendary Kielman ritual, and choose leather goods that become integral parts of your vehicle.
These encounters resemble sessions with a master tailor rather than a typical automotive appointment. We cannot imagine a client leaving with a bag and a car that know each other only from a brochure. They must know each other from the same drawing table.
Carlex × Malton Kielman is a manifesto against temporariness.
By merging more than a century of Warsaw shoemaking with our bold, modern vision of collectible automotive design, we create objects that defy time.
We do not build gadgets. We create legacy—objects that, like Kielman shoes from the 1920s, can be passed down through generations, carrying the story of passion, precision, and the hands that shaped them.
Made Once. The Original. Always.
