About Me

 

I've had a pretty convoluted career progression to get where I am now, doing my dream job. I grew up in Portland Victoria, and surfing was my passion right up until my mid twenties. It was a great place to grow up with unlimited fun things to do outdoors, if you could deal with the wind and rain! I left school early and went grape vine pruning and labouring in Adelaide for a year, before coming back to Portland to finish high school. Pruning was not fun. I was really interested in art and graphic design at school, but was constantly told there was no career for artists. 

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So after school, I did a year of a Bachelor of Science at University in Hobart. After that year I came back to Portland and worked as a forklift operator and did an electrical pre apprenticeship course. My electrical apprenticeship started at the Aluminium smelter in Portland the next year. After three years at the smelter I transferred my apprenticeship to Geelong where I worked in domestic and commercial settings. After I had my A grade ticket I worked on windfarm construction, then moved into maintenance as a travelling technician.

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After a few years of that I took a year off to travel, and booked a one way ticket to South America. I had an incredible time there and covered most of the continent in eight months. I was getting sick of speaking Spanish so booked a flight to the US from Colombia and ended up in California and buying a Harley Davidson in San Francisco. With a tent strapped on the back seat I was free as a bird and headed north. After visiting some amazing friends in California, Oregon and Washington, I ended up T-boned by a car in Seattle. That wrote off the bike, my leg and my holiday plans. But without that accident I probably never would have stumbled onto leathercraft.

 

I was unable to walk for more than four months and during the recovery process, I came across leathercraft when I decided to make a sheath for a knife that I forged in my backyard from an old rasp. After I made that sheath I was hooked. Leather is such a great product to work with. I love the texture and feel of it, and there’s nothing more satisfying than feeling that burnished or painted edge. It is also so rewarding to present a client with the finished product and see how happy it makes them.

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After gaining an initial interest in leathercraft, I spent five years improving my skills through reading, watching videos, and learning from a traditional Japanese leathercraft teacher in Hong Kong. This teacher made briefcases for Hong Kong’s elite by hand, and the traditional Japanese techniques he used resulted in very clean and neat work. He instilled in me a highly refined aesthetic and appreciation for fine, traditional skills.

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The accident resulted in arthritis in my ankle that will be with me for life, so I needed to change career away from climbing wind turbines. During those five years of improving my leather skills, I had always discounted the idea of taking the craft on as a profession, due to concerns regarding whether I would be able to make a living off it. In that time, I completed a Bachelor of Science at Monash University majoring in Geology and Geography, and also started my pilot training. However, after gaining the leatherwork experience in Hong Kong, I couldn’t shake the idea of starting my own leatherwork business. Plus Geology is boring and flying a plane was too stressful. I decided life was too short to not follow my dreams, so in 2017 I bit the bullet and started looking for a space to start my own leather business in Melbourne.

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I had my first workshop in Coburg North at SpaceTank Studios for two years, then moved it to St Kilda for a year after I met my now wife. Covid hit, so I consolidated my rents by moving into a backyard workshop in Bentleigh for a couple of years. In 2023 my family and I made the move out of the city to Warragul in Gippsland and it's been the change we needed. We have two boys now, and they'll enjoy growing up here.

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The training I had in Hong Kong has really influenced my leatherwork style, and it is also why I am drawn towards making items like briefcases. I've made all sorts of things over the years so it's hard to pin me down as a maker who specialises in one thing. But if I could only produce one item in my workshop, I would choose a briefcase. There is a surprising amount of complexity to a fully lined, semi rigid briefcase with burnished edges. They take me around two weeks full time to make, and there is more than 20 hours of hand stitching in each case.

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A knife sheath was the first thing I ever made out of leather, and it is still one of my favourite items to make. I can make almost any sheath you could want, but I specialise in exotic leather inlays such as crocodile, stingray, ostrich and even lizard leather. I only hand stitch every sheath I make using a traditional saddle stitching technique. 

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Currently I'm producing a range of my own designs to be purchased directly online or made to order. I'm starting with the classics like briefcases, folios and wallets, but I will hopefully get more products up soon. I'm still doing custom orders regularly as I'm one of only a few people in Australia doing luxury custom work. 

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I've also been running in-person classes teaching leathercraft to anyone wanting to take themselves to the next level. For anyone who can't make it to Warragul easily I am happy to video lessons via Whatsapp or Facetime. Another thing that has been fun is making teaching videos and downloadable patterns and instructionals. I love seeing upcoming leatherworkers taking on my teaching content and improving their work. ​