Leather and Colorway Guide

• This page is to help you choose leather type(s) and colors for your made-to-order item.

• Information about the leathers offered follows, proceeded by an FAQ and Suggested Colorways.

The Leather

• Leathers from some of the best known and highest regarded French, Italian, and Japanese tanneries are offered.
  • For general information about leather types and finishes, please see my Leather Guide.

Chèvre Crispé comes from century-old French tannery, Relma, which specializes in vegetable tanned goatskin for use in bookbinding and luxury leather goods. Chèvre Crispé has a wonderful subtle texture, vibrant colors, and is lightly finished for better color fastness, as well as providing some scratch and water resistance. It works great for both the interior and exterior of items.

Shell Cordovan is an equine leather that’s prized for its resilience, its luster, and its graceful aging.

This is one of the most recognizable leathers in the world, thanks to its extensive use in fine footwear. Museum calf is characterized by it’s mottled color. It has a pleasant soft hand, yet firm temper. Softens wonderfully with age and brushes up beautifully.

Sherpa is buffalo calfskin produced by French Tannery, Remy Carriat. Compared to other bovine leathers, it has a more varied and interesting grain. It is also an extremely tough leather–the most resistant in the lineup. Despite its toughness, it still retains very pleasant, soft feel. Works great for both the interior or exterior of items and there’s plenty of colors to choose from.

Pueblo is classic Italian vacchetta, vegetable tanned cowhide, with a twist. Its grain has been gently sueded, which gives it that beautiful vintage look.

Vono is traditional pit-tanned cowhide from Japanese tannery, Tochigi. The open pit-tanning is said to give extra toughness to the resulting leather and Vono does indeed feel very robust. Compared to the absence of grain on Shell Cordovan or the fine grain of Museum Calf, Vono has slightly more rugged character as the grain is more apparent. This leather will show interesting character as it ages, but will patina slower than your typical veg tan. The dye is also beautifully done with nice depth of color.

New Option! Swatches are now live on the product pages.

Epsom is calfskin that is well-known for its extensive use in luxury goods. Its printed grain provides a clean, modern look, and provides excellent resistance against wear like scratches and dents.

Sharkskin is characterized by deep ridges in the skin, giving it its wonderful texture. It’s regarded as one of the very toughest leathers there is, but despite that, this Japanese sharkskin has a wonderful soft and luxurious texture.

No other leather says luxury quite like alligator and crocodile leather. Crocodilian leather is known for its striking texture, wonderful feel, and excellent durability.

I have a limited stock of skins. Please contact me for availability.

Along with crocodile and ostrich, python is one of the quintessential exotics. The texture is quite striking from the array of scales, giving it its alluring dimensional look. Unlike most snakeskins, python is actually quite durable.

The python used is sourced from Japan and has a soft matte finish. You can expect it to see it patina. The color will darken and, it will absorb character from use. Scales are securely attached, although they may fold somewhat with use.

While there are near endless possibilities for color combinations, many of the nicest looking examples will:

1. Use a lighter colored leather on the interior of the item.
2. Use thread that is either the same color or lighter than both leathers.

There are, naturally, many exceptions. In the case of exotic leathers, for example, subtle contrasts work best (especially as threading is concerned) as to not detract attention from the leather itself.

Note: The method of hand sewing I employ, saddle stitching, doesn’t allow for different color exterior and interior thread, as the needle passes through both sides of the perimeter.

Suggested Colorways

• Several examples of the suggested colorways follow, categorized by exterior color.
• Please choose the exterior and interior leather types based on the suggestions provided above.
• If you have further questions or would like to request input on your chosen colorway, please add an order note or contact me.

Suggested pairings: tan, brown, gray, yellow, burgundy

Suggested pairings: orange, brown, tan, gray, yellow, green

Suggested pairings: natural, brown, olive, blue, turquoise, green

Suggested pairings: taupe, natural, orange, yellow, blue, green

Suggested pairings: red, green, yellow, taupe, turquoise, beige

Suggested pairings: natural, taupe, brown, turquoise, green