The Warm Side – a Harwich Port, Massachusetts leather collection

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

An August study.

We call it The Warm Side – a small leather collection rooted in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, where Cape Cod turns to face Nantucket Sound and the water runs warm. Five stamps, carried across luggage tags, journals and the rest of a day's kit.

First, the name the village answers to. Locals say THE PORT, so we set it in tall capitals over a single shoreline and opened the line three times, once for each of the village's harbors. It looks genuinely beautiful.

The Port stamp design from The Warm Side leather collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

The tags run lengthwise, in deep navy and pale sea-blue, with a third in beach-sand greige.

Navy, sea-blue and sand leather luggage tags stamped The Port, from The Warm Side collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

Next, the toiletry bags. Every Cape swimmer knows the south-shore secret – Nantucket Sound is the warm side. So a low sun settles onto the horizon above THE WARM SIDE, stamped into the lower corner of a stack in sunlit amber over chestnut. Count the rays: seven, one for each of Harwich's seven villages.

The Warm Side sunset stamp design from the namesake Harwich Port, Massachusetts leather collection.

Amber and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped The Warm Side for Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

Then the keychains. A rope takes a figure-eight turn around a cleat above HOME PORT – a keychain being the place where keys tie up at the end of the day. One fob in harbor navy, one in the red of the port-hand light. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The Home Port rope-and-cleat stamp design from The Warm Side leather collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

Navy and red leather keychains stamped Home Port, from The Warm Side collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

Then the catchall tray, which already behaves like a beach – something washes up in it every evening. We gave it a tide line and WHAT THE TIDE BROUGHT IN, with a scallop shell and a stray key left above the waterline, pressed into golden tan.

The What the Tide Brought In stamp design from The Warm Side leather collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped What the Tide Brought In for Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Harwich Port calls itself all things land and sea, so we split a medallion down its middle. Beach grass and a cranberry sprig lean through one half, a catboat sail rides the other, and HARWICH PORT closes the ring beneath. One journal in deep pine green for the land, one in navy for the sea. It looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The All Things Land and Sea stamp design from The Warm Side leather collection of Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

Pine green and navy leather journals stamped All Things Land and Sea for Harwich Port, Massachusetts.

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