Dogwood & Iron – a leather collection for Cary, North Carolina

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world logos.

An August study.

Cary, North Carolina began where two railroads crossed, and downtown still keeps the proof: an 1869 railroad hotel and a dogwood on nearly everything the town prints. We spent August pressing that Cary into leather – a small collection we call Dogwood & Iron.

First, the fact the town began with: two rail lines crossing. We drew the junction tie by tie and set MEET AT THE JUNCTION around it – a fair thing to ask of a luggage tag, whose whole job is bringing a bag back to its own crossing.

The Meet at the Junction railway stamp design from the Dogwood & Iron leather collection of Cary, North Carolina.

We pressed it on a trio of tags, warm red and golden tan with a true black third. The black tag takes the stamp in gold.

Black, red and golden-tan leather luggage tags stamped with Cary's rail junction for the Dogwood & Iron collection.

Next, the Page-Walker, the hotel the junction built in 1869; its mansard roof is still the sharpest line downtown. On the cover of a journal the name reads as a person – a page walker, which is what you become the moment you open one.

The Page-Walker 1869 hotel stamp design from the Dogwood & Iron leather collection of Cary, North Carolina.

One journal is deep wine like the hotel's brick, the other pale greige like old plaster. It looks genuinely beautiful.

Wine and pale greige leather journals stamped with Cary's Page-Walker hotel for the Dogwood & Iron collection.

Then the town flower. We ringed a dogwood bloom, each bract with its notch, with the words KEEP OLD CARY CLOSE, and put it on keys, where the promise is literal – whatever gets built around the town, these still open the old part.

The Keep Old Cary Close dogwood stamp design from the Dogwood & Iron leather collection of Cary, North Carolina.

The duo runs dusty rose and deep green, petal and leaf. Keychains with the dogwood stamp look just awesome.

Dusty-rose and forest-green leather keychains stamped with Cary's dogwood for the Dogwood & Iron collection.

The same bloom sits low in the corner of the toiletry bags, warm gray over chestnut like old barnwood, so a weekend away keeps a little of the town in the kit.

Warm-gray and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped with Cary's dogwood for the Dogwood & Iron collection.

And finally, the catchall tray, in golden tan. We tied a posy of dogwood sprigs over the words GATHER HERE, because that is the whole job of a tray by the door – by evening, everything in your pockets has gathered there.

The Gather Here dogwood bouquet stamp design from the Dogwood & Iron leather collection of Cary, North Carolina.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray stamped with a dogwood bouquet for the Dogwood & Iron collection of Cary, North Carolina.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this study is one of them, and we hope the feeling is mutual. Every image is a render – how we prototype before cutting a die.

If you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.