Artisans: Leather Design

Artisans: Mia Sabel, Bespoke Leather Design.

This shoot was with Mia Sabel who welcomed me to her studio in Walthamstow. Her main focus at the moment is working on a range of bespoke watch straps and I was able to watch one being made from start to finish. In common with many of the other crafts I’ve photographed, one wrong move can mean starting all over again, and it was a pleasure to see the leather worked with so skilfully.

The leather is split down to the required thickness, then cut to the correct width and edges bevelled. The tools are sharpened before each use to ensure a clean cut first time, and the thread has to be waxed to increase it’s strength and usability. I watched the stitching for some time but couldn’t get my head round it how it worked, but then I don’t understand knitting either!
Mia makes a wide range of items, from card cases up to custom cases, straps and belts and each is beautifully finished.

I’d like to say a big thanks to Mia (and Colin) for their time, and please visit Mia's web site to check out the beautiful work.

Note: Click on an image and use left and right keys to view the whole set, or click Slideshow for full screen viewing.