Why buy a LJ Leatherwork product?

I was born and bred in the south west of England and am fortunate to be living and working on the edge of the Somerset Levels and being surrounded by such countryside, coastal plain and wetlands has definitely inspired my designs. 

As a traditional leatherworker I use the old fashioned methods of  preparing and creating leatherwear. From stripping leather pre-dying and using only oil based dyes, as these penetrate the leather and it softens as worn, unlike acrylic and water based dyes which are uniformed, but for me they are not leather friendly.

All hides are inspected and handpicked by myself. When working with leather it's important to understand the variations in each hide and to know how to best showcase those variations. I choose hides with stretch marks, blemishes and scars as this adds the character and texture to my product.

There are 2 main methods of tanning leather, one is known as  “Chrome” and the other “Vegetable”.  These are the ways the skin is transformed into a usable, tactile and flexible material.  

Chrome tanning is a quick method and can be done in hours or maybe a few days.  The hide is soaked in salts and chemicals.  This produces a very soft and stretchy leather which is difficult to hand stitch and is mostly used on a machine.  Vegetable tanning can take anything from three months to a year, the hide is soaked in a solution of tree bark, oak, pine or larch and produces not only the much sought after smell of leather but also flexibility and those lingering colour changes in time and use.

I only hand stitch with Vegetable tanned leather.