GUILD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
What was the first thing you ever made in leather and do you still have it?
It’s been wallets all the way down. My leather journey began with the timeless struggle—what do I get my dad for the holidays?! After so many years you start to run out of ideas; maybe your last few years were disposable or niche items, but would that person really use them? I had had enough! After running through all the videos on the awesome YouTube channel Little King Goods, I decided it was time to put knife to leather. I found my local Tandy leather—the Chelmsford, MA location. After hours of touching, smelling, and handling the leathers they had in stock, I emerged with the basic tools needed for the task, and a handsome hide of chocolate-brown leather from the clearance bin. You could imagine my girlfriend’s (now wife) face when I pulled up to our apartment with my hands full of a new hobby—and new potential!
So, the wallet was simple. Anyone intimidated to make their first piece should navigate to DSLeatherGood’s Etsy store, and find a beginner pattern they resonate with. Then make 5. After 5 crude (but functional) Bosun Bifold wallets, I started to build the muscles, my hands started to anticipate the curves of the pockets, turn the knife adjacent to my mat—and I knew it was mastery I’d be pursuing for a long time.
What part of the process do you love the most, and what part do you dread?
Taking each wallet slow and focusing solely on the craft. It’s so rare that we solo-task nowadays (for example, as a remote employee I have 5 distinct screens open at my desk during the day…). Reserving my leather bench as a space for mindful crafting—that’s helped me avoid burnout over these 4 years and keeps each new project a discovery.
In this digital age, there’s a certain amount of self-promotion required to reach your audience. I adore aspects of it—in fact, the photography of small goods is its own rewarding pursuit – but other aspects, like filming my process and editing videos, it just doesn’t bring me energy. That’s why if you navigate over to my Instagram page, you’ll see a feed of wallets on interesting backgrounds—textures and materials I hope tell a story of the wallet—but few videos of my process. I really enjoy getting that single snapshot in time. What can you learn about an object from the kind of leather used—is it rugged, purposeful, or elegant? What does the light, the environment tell you about the artist’s intent? What can you learn about the customer who ordered the piece specifically? What role might it play in their lives? What will it carry? To whatever degree that lands with my audience really motivates me to dream of the next piece.
Is there a tool on your bench that has a story behind it?
Not so much a tool as the bench itself. I’m not a handy guy—generally—but a friend noticed I was cutting and banging on my work bench and said “no, no, that just won’t do”. A week later we were at Lowe’s checking plywood sizes and taking his table saw to exact measurements. Working at my bench always reminds me of Jacob and the people who support my endeavors in life, from professional to passion.
How do you decide when something is finished?
I have two quotes written on my board—the ink so set that I’m unsure it’ll never come clean:
“Messy, Marginal Progress”
“Much is Learned in the Making of Things”
I give 80% of my energy to any project. I think the pursuit of perfection can unfortunately eclipse some of the enjoyment of crafting—especially if you make comparisons to others’ work on social media (“I have to sit here and sand the edges until they are perfect”; “Oh, the customer is totally going to see that mark and think my work is less than.”) To the extent that we can stare these tensions in the eye and recognize that we are lucky to work with leather (an imperfect medium in the first place!), to have tools and time, and those who hold our pieces are choosing an alternative to fast fashion and cheap consumption, I think the pressure can come off a bit and the final project can be not so much a destination but a feeling. Leaving yourself space to make mistakes, then learn from them, but not deplete your tank… that’s something I work to embody each day.
What’s a mistake you made early on that still makes you laugh (or cringe)?
Upgrading to “luxury” leathers too quickly. Definitely attributable to the Instagram effect, I mistook using expensive materials for an understanding of how to make them shine! I wish I had taken another year of working with different kinds of leather (rather than jumping straight to shell cordovan, for example), feeling out tempers and finishes. An example is that while Rocado Shell is stunning, it actually doesn’t fold particularly well given the stiff, thick finish. Many of my signature wallets are “wrapped” and resist the temper of that leather—sometimes challenging my glue and stitch lines. Spend time understanding variation and how different leathers can be the most functional for specific projects, how their qualities—even if not “the best leather in the world” (whatever that means) can actually make a wallet feel better for half the price.
If your work had a personality, how would you describe it?
Cosmic, or vibrant. I love to collect 60s space media (time magazine illustrations, old solar system maps) because of the pure wonder inherent in a new frontier. They hang on my wall, over my craft and encourage me to build in personality and wonder where I can.
What do you hope someone feels when they pick up one of your pieces?
Companionship.
[Editor here. Jake wraps up with a one-word mic-drop answer. The more I think about it, the more I agree with him.]
CONTACT DETAILS FOR JAKE
Instagram: @Lunar.Eclipse.Leather
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