steveb leatherworks: the blather

Good news from Goose

Goose writes:
Steve, You have truly outdone yourself! I picked up the new wallet and belt today and am very happy with how much fine detail is in every inch. The added details of the pennies with my year of birth, the combination of stamps, and the subtle color variations are great details that really mean something to me!! The wallet chain is unbelievable in the both the weight and quality.

Your eye for details have put this combo over the top. I can’t put the right adjectives together to describe how much I love your work, but I hope you understand the intent. You are a very gifted artist and I am very happy you do what you do!

Many thanks for everything!

I’ll definitely stay in touch and let you know how all of your pieces are aging! I have worn your other wallet daily for seven years and it still looks new. I clean my two belts and wallet occasionally with a little Fiebing’s saddle soap and then condition them with Ko-Cho-Line. They still look and feel like new. Most times I destroy wallets in 3-4 years.

It’s a testament to the quality of the materials and the work that you do!

Once again, thank you very much!

Goose

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Many of the folks I have done Leatherwork for over the 10+ years have returned to me multiple times. I’ve gotten numerous (4+) requests from many of them, and I think its pretty cool and always humbling. Considering the strongest vote you have is with your wallet, I feel damn fortunate. I used to feel lucky, kind of like “wow, how did that happen!” After a few years, I realized (could admit to myself, is more like it) that I was doing something that people liked, and to stop apologizing for the different-ness, time and cost – and to basically, keep doing what I was doing. That was a revelatory moment, equal parts scary and liberating.

So my work has changed over the years and my customers have rolled with it. I’ve gotten more into color, super deep patterns, as opposed to carving, I’ve figured out how to make stuff more durable and still keep it real simple. Simple is good.

I was turned on to “Simplicity” by Alan Siegel, one of the founders of Siegel+Gale. Having breakfast with him one morning in the mid-1990’s at The Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, while his driver waited outside, I realized that Simple didn’t mean dumb, “no money” or downstream. I began to realize Simple was smart, and although I was too young at the time to fully absorb the lesson, I was given a clue.

Before I go too deep down the rabbit hole here, my point is that I have tried in most areas of my life, especially my creative work – to keep it Simple and to trust my muse – and well, so far keeping it Simple works for me.

So I translate Simple in my Leatherwork to mean: no unnecessary add-ons or embellishments, no zippers, I stick with slab construction, everything is glued, lined & stitched, all hardware is thoughtfully selected and in the case of rivets, I use washers. I use brass, a metal which develops great patina and personality and finally, I use great Leather. And in pursuing Simplicty I have had to muddle though unfathomable complexity.

But as I think I am getting closer, Simplicity slithers away, and I have to hunt harder!

Goose, is one of those wonderful people who came back for a third (or maybe fourth?) time for a set of EDC goods: wallet, fob, belt. And invited me to go to town, and so I did!