W New York - Union Square × Leatherius Woodman – a leather stamping study

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

An August study.

For W New York - Union Square.

First, the warm-up. We pressed the W Hotels mark on the luggage tags – blind on deep wine and pale warm greige. The black tag carries it in gold.

The black-and-white W Hotels logo used in a leather stamping study for W New York - Union Square.

Black, deep wine, and pale warm greige leather luggage tags stamped with the W Hotels logo for W New York - Union Square.

Next, the reason the hotel stands where it does. Broadway cuts across the Manhattan grid, and at the exact point where it breaks the pattern the map opens into a square – UPTOWN above, DOWNTOWN below.

Black-and-white die artwork mapping the Broadway crossing at Union Square for the W New York - Union Square leather study.

It went onto the keychains in warm red and true black. The black fob carries it in gold.

Black and warm red leather keychains stamped with the Union Square crossing design for W New York - Union Square.

And onto the passport covers, blind, in deep wine and pale warm greige. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Deep wine and pale warm greige leather passport covers stamped with the Union Square crossing design for W New York - Union Square.

The same crossing at full size on the golden tan catchall tray – you empty your pockets onto the map of exactly where you are.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with the Union Square crossing design for W New York - Union Square.

Then, the rooftop's best trick. We drew the Beaux-Arts crown with its roof slid apart and the night coming through – THE ROOF IS OPEN. It sits small in the corner of the toiletry bags, true black over deep brown.

Black-and-white die artwork of an open Beaux-Arts rooftop beneath the night sky for W New York - Union Square.

Black and deep brown leather toiletry bags stamped with the open-rooftop design for W New York - Union Square.

And finally, the journals. Their own line says it: “We honor the then, live in the now–and always think about what’s next.” So we carved an old stone frame and left it holding two words and a blank line, in true black and pale warm greige. It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white WHAT'S NEXT cartouche die artwork for the W New York - Union Square leather study.

Black and pale warm greige leather journals stamped with the WHAT'S NEXT cartouche for W New York - Union Square.

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 W New York - Union Square and you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.