Inspiration

I recently came across an article on a Tokyo shoemaker, Yohei Fukuda, who creates some of the nicest men’s shoes I’ve seen. What struck me about his story was how Yohei created a style that is a mixture of his own roots as well as the source of his training in England. I love that […]

Today’s post is a collection of two videos that really put us ‘in the mood’ to get in the workshop and plan out a new project. There’s something hypnotic about these videos that really captures the flow of what it feels like to work on the various components of a leather-working piece. Watching the blade […]

A while back we created a post with some of our favorite leather goods makers on Instagram who continually inspire us to perform at our best. Many of you commented on that post and shared some of your favorites, which we’ve collected and highlighted below. Here are a few highlights from those accounts. Thanks to […]

photo: Kelly Miller When you dream about doing a thing, sometimes you have to just take a step towards making it happen and see where it takes you. That’s what happened when Kelly Miller stumbled upon an expert patternmaker in Paris and created something she always dreamed about, a bespoke leather motorcycle jacket. She was […]

Instagram is the place where many leather goods makers find inspiring photos of some of the best artists and designers working today. Some people use it like any other social media account, but I like to use Instagram as my own curated feed of leather goods making. Maybe even more important than the finished product […]

Pictured above: Don King Saddle. Here in my workshop, I have the old Al Stohlman books on leatherworking. When I was just starting out, these were my go-to books on how to make something new. Even now I refer to them for new (well… new to me) ways of constructing projects. If you’ve read these […]

Today’s videos are an inspirational look at two different leatherworkers who give some invaluable advice for both beginning craftsman and for those who are still trying to find steady footing in a budding business. I was struck by the enthusiasm Graham felt for starting the craft after visiting a cowboy shop in America and of […]

(photo by: scmp.com) A reader shared this recent article about Louis Vuitton and it took me down a rabbit hole on the history of this leatherworking icon and the company’s founding. The article, which was originally published in Destination Macau, details some of the inner construction of Louis Vuitton trunks. Today, you can find ready-made […]

The other day I was looking at different ways of using leather and I came across this painting: What stood out to me was that it was actually carved leather. Ann-Maree Ager is an Australian artist who focuses on doing paintings using traditional leather carving techniques. She won several prizes at the 2017 Sydney Royal […]

Have you ever wondered if your kids would enjoy leatherworking as much as you do? Last week, one of our readers emailed us and happened to mention that she homeschools her three kids, and includes leatherworking as a part of the curriculum. In searching around on the internet to see if others were doing the […]