Still Harman – a leather collection for Cherry Creek North, Denver

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies.

An August collection.

Before Cherry Creek North was sixteen blocks of storefronts, it was a town called Harman. We spent August pressing that town into leather, from luggage tags to a catchall tray, and we call the collection Still Harman.

First, the town itself. Harman, Colorado was incorporated in 1886 and annexed by Denver in 1894, and the grid underneath still remembers – that is where Still Harman gets its name. We set HARMAN on a depot board with the creek winding under the letters, so the tag travels under a flag only locals can read.

It looks genuinely beautiful. Forest green stands in for the cottonwoods, with a warm poppy red beside it. The black tag carries the press in gold.

The Harman depot-board stamp design from the Still Harman leather collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Black, poppy red and forest green leather luggage tags stamped with the Harman depot board, from the Still Harman collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Next, the whole district in one figure. Sixteen blocks, sixteen squares, one of them filled in – yours. One fob runs pale sea-blue for the creek; on the black fob the grid presses in gold.

The Sixteen Blocks street-grid stamp design from the Still Harman leather collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Black and pale sea-blue leather keychains stamped with the Sixteen Blocks grid, from the Still Harman collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Then the water that named everything. A chokecherry sprig over the creek line, stamped small in the corner of the wash bags – the one thing in the collection that actually meets water. Navy over chestnut, creek over sandbank.

The chokecherry and creek stamp design from the Still Harman leather collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Navy and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped with chokecherries over Cherry Creek, from the Still Harman collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Every town keeps minutes. Harman's hall was Italianate brick with tall sash windows under arches; it is long gone, so the journal inherits the job. We drew the facade and set MINUTES beneath it, pressed low in the corner – one binding in deep wine, the other in warm tan.

The Town Minutes architectural stamp design from the Still Harman leather collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

Deep wine and warm tan leather journals stamped with the old Harman town hall, from the Still Harman collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Ask anyone about Cherry Creek North and sooner or later the hidden parking comes up. So the golden tan tray becomes exactly that – a marked spot for keys and pocket change that only you know about.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The Hidden Parking municipal-sign stamp design from the Still Harman leather collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped as Hidden Parking, from the Still Harman collection of Cherry Creek North, Denver.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this collection 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 any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.