Crocodilly Bőrdíszmű - Szemes István Bőrdíszműves, Budapest

The history of the business is the history of three generations whose members lived and died for their profession. The first shop was founded in 1937 by the will of two young master leather goods manufacturers - Sándor Mészáros and János Vilcsek - under Bécsi út 6. in Budapest Downtown where they worked with the finest leathers (snake, lizard, crocodile) and Gobelin tapestries. Both of them learned their profession in Paris, then capital of the world and fashion industry. This shop was swept away by the war but within barely two years, also in Budapest Downtown, in Régiposta utca the shop of Mészáros & Vilcsek was reopened. In the fifties János Vilcsek and his family left the country. Sándor Mészáros always kept the strictest professional standard front of him: first class quality. He took charge of young and talented István Szemes from 1979 who already had twelve years of professional experience by that time and in whom he recognized the person to carry his professional inheritance further. Since his death in 1981 István Szemes has been running the business under the name of Crocodilly following his ancestors' noble professional traditions.