Happy Woodland, Volume I-A – a leather collection from New England's seaside gardens

The Happy Woodland collection – Volume I-A. A September study.

A small collection for a New England seaside garden – the kind of place where a rose garden and a lily pond share a long lawn that runs down to Narragansett Bay. Four designs, drawn from what actually grows and stands there.

First, the gate. We built a moon gate of fieldstone with a climbing rose over its shoulder, and put the bay in the opening – one sail on the horizon, right where the garden meets the sea.

Black-and-white moon-gate, climbing-rose, and sail stamp artwork for Happy Woodland leather luggage tags in Bristol, Rhode Island.

On the luggage tags it stands upright, in deep forest green for the grounds and pale sea-blue for the bay. The third tag is dusty rose, for the obvious reason.

It looks genuinely beautiful stamped into the leather.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a rose-covered moon gate and sail for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

A pale turquoise leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a rose-covered moon gate and sail for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

A dusty-rose Parisian Blossom leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a moon gate and sail for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

The same gate sits small in the corner of the dopp kits – warm stone gray over chestnut, like the walls it was drawn from.

Country-gray and Sicilian chestnut leather dopp kits blind-stamped with the moon-gate design for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

Next, the name. The old estate name on this shore is Old English for a happy woodland, and it named the whole collection – we lettered it under a small grove standing above the tide line.

Black-and-white three-tree and tide-line stamp artwork for Happy Woodland leather keychains in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Keychains in deep green and warm tan – the kind you find in a coat pocket years later and keep.

A forest-green leather keychain blind-stamped with three trees, tide lines, and HAPPY WOODLAND for the Bristol, Rhode Island collection.

A warm caramel leather keychain blind-stamped with three trees, tide lines, and HAPPY WOODLAND for the Bristol, Rhode Island collection.

Then, the pond. We scattered lily pads and one open bloom across rings of still water, and set COME TO REST beneath – keys land on a tray the way lilies sit on a pond.

Black-and-white lily-pad, water-lily, and ripple stamp artwork for a Happy Woodland leather catchall tray in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Pressed at generous size into the golden tan tray.

An Arizona golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with lily pads and COME TO REST for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

And finally, the one we liked the most. In 1911 a young giant sequoia, grown too big for its Prospect Park greenhouse, came north by train and was planted a short walk from Narragansett Bay. Today it is called the tallest of its kind on the East Coast. Under a lone sequoia the cover reads PLANTED 1911, STILL GROWING – on a journal, that line is a promise.

Black-and-white sequoia stamp artwork for Happy Woodland leather journals in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Journals in deep forest green and honeyed russet – canopy and bark. Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

A forest-green wrap leather journal blind-stamped with a sequoia and PLANTED 1911 STILL GROWING for the Bristol, Rhode Island collection.

A honeyed-russet Indian Summer wrap leather journal blind-stamped with a sequoia for the Happy Woodland collection from Bristol, Rhode Island.

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 anything here made real, or anything changed – say hello through our contact page.