Gemma´s Love of Leather
Lots of people ask about my interest in Leather Crafting and it's quite the random story so here it is... My love of leather crafting began when I lived in Shanghai. Opposite my apartment in the French Concession area of the city there was a tiny little leather shop and with my limited Mandarin I managed to explain to the owner that I would like to learn how to make things. Soon each Sunday I would go over and follow the owners step by step process and made many small items from a cool purple passport holder, my favourite sunglasses case and a super functional wallet.
Then to learn a little bit more about theory of leather I signed up to a weekend workshop in Totnes, Devon with Tanner Bates (https://www.tannerbates.co.uk/), it was such a treat to stay in such a lovely town and leather craft all weekend, here I made a belt, key ring and lanyard holder which I wore non stop to work for the next 2 years ;-)
In that time I made sure to make leather crafting part of every holiday so when in Florence, Italy I did a short course in the incredible Scuola del Cuoio S.r.l. and was taught by someone who had worked there for over 50 years! Then the following year when in Chicago I visited the Chicago School of Show Making (https://chicagoschoolofshoemaking.com/) where I spent the whole day making the comfiest sandals.
Before I left Shanghai I made lots of visits to 'leather street' in Shanghai and picked up as many resources as I could as the choice was amazing, I remember cycling home with 4 full leather hides once.. haha! My stash is starting to run low so of anyone fancies a Lark shopping trip to the best craft shopping city ever let me know!? Haha! I could only find a few pics but I will try and track some more down for a future newsletter. I'm so excited to recreate the workshops I've been to around the world and share my love of leather with just over 2 weeks of leather crafting at Lark, I plan to run nothing else at the studio during that fortnight so I can get out all my tools and equipment and hopefully if you are able to join one or 2 you'll be as hooked as me!
You can book your place at the upcoming Leather Craft Workshops HERE
Excited to see you all there!
Gemma