Saltwater Sunsets Travel × Leatherius Woodman – a leather stamping study
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world marks.
A July study.
Saltwater Sunsets Travel is a veteran-owned travel agency in Manhattan, Kansas, and its story stays rooted in that one town. Andy Spade, founder and lead travel advisor, served six years in the United States Army before settling in Manhattan, where his official biography counts nineteen years of serving the community as a first responder. In 2021 he opened the agency with a plain promise: lasting memories through exceptional travel, every detail looked after. His closing line says the rest. “Let’s get you somewhere beautiful.”
The mark earned its page in the log on shape alone. A coral half-sun sits above the name, flat side down, nine short rays fanned evenly over it, while the teal serif wordmark carries the weight below. Geometry that spare survives a stamping die whole. We knew before the first render that the leather would be kind to it.
The mark, as found
Pressed lengthwise
The teal of the wordmark chose our turquoise, a pale sea-blue, and the coral of the sun chose indian-summer, which presses as a honeyed russet. Black carries the gold foil, as the third leather always does.
Somewhere beautiful
For the companion we let the sun finish its day. The same plain half-sun and the same nine rays, only now the horizon runs nearly the full width, and beneath it three wavy lines of saltwater step inward, each shorter than the last, so the sun reads as setting into open sea. We were tempted to float a sailboat in that water. The mark argued for restraint, and we listened. One line of plain capitals waits under the waves: SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL.
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're Saltwater Sunsets Travel and you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.