Dr.BagsAtelier · Singapore · Est. 2014

Chapter · 03 — The Bench

A small catalogue of services.

A decade on Ubi Road, restoring the bags we are sent. A story of one bag, a dyeing kit from Seoul, and the quiet decision to do the work slowly.

Founded
Singapore, 2014
Bench
7 craftspeople
Method
Korean restoration
Bags returned
5,000+

Our Bench

Each discipline is performed by the hand best suited to it. Cleaning by one bench, colour by another, hardware by a third. The bag moves through the atelier the way a manuscript moves through an editor.

Plate 03·a — Bridle calf, conditioned
01 — Cleaning & Conditioning

The quiet revival of grained leather.

A four-stage cleanse for vegetable-tanned, full-grain, and exotic skins — beginning with a pH-balanced solvent appropriate to the material, ending with a beeswax-and-jojoba conditioning massaged in by hand. Edge sheen is restored without overpolishing. The patina that took years to earn is preserved.

  • Suitable forCalf · Box · Togo
  • Turnaround5–9 days
  • IncludesEdge re-burnish
  • QuotedBy assessment
Read the method →
02 — Colour & Patina

Three hundred and twelve shades in the cabinet.

Full re-dye, spot re-dye, fade-restoration, and colour conversion. We mill our own pigments and reach back into the discontinued lacquers — vermilion 1992, vintage chocolate, the creams the great houses stopped producing decades ago. Colour is matched not to the bag as it left the boutique but to the bag as it has lived.

  • Custom mix300 base shades
  • Turnaround14–21 days
  • IncludesSealant · Finish
  • QuotedBy assessment
Read the method →
Plate 03·b — Aniline re-dye, brush at rest
Plate 03·c — Saddle stitch, gloved hand
03 — Repair & Reconstruction

Stitch, strap, frame — structure restored .

Re-stitching by hand using period-correct linen, handle replacement, corner repair, frame realignment, and the rebuild of straps that have lost their tension. Hardware is dismounted, the bag is dressed in archival muslin, and the work is done — as it should be — slowly.

  • Stitch typeSaddle · Lock
  • Turnaround10–18 days
  • IncludesHardware service
  • QuotedBy assessment
Read the method →
04 — Damage Rescue

Pet, ink, oil, water — the patient salvage .

The bag that the puppy reached, the pen that opened in the cabin, the cup of coffee on the third stop of the day. We work in slow stages: poultice, lift, re-dye, finish. Most damage that looks final is, in our experience, not.

  • Common casesPet · Oil · Ink
  • Turnaround14–28 days
  • IncludesDiagnostic report
  • QuotedAfter inspection
All services →
Plate 03·d — Poultice lift, hour seven
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