In Good Repair – a leather stamping collection on mending and keeping

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

A September study.

In Good Repair is a small collection about the care of things – mending what breaks and keeping what matters. Five original stamps, pressed into leather, the one material that repays care with beauty.

First, the mend. We ran a long break down the length of the tag and stitched it shut with repair staples, the way a good pot gets mended – BETTER FOR THE BREAK. A repaired thing carries proof that somebody found it worth repairing.

Black-and-white die artwork of a five-staple repaired seam above BETTER FOR THE BREAK for the In Good Repair leather collection.

The black tag carries the seam in gold foil – the oldest way of honoring a mend. The deep wine and the pale greige tags take a blind press.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with a five-staple repaired seam and BETTER FOR THE BREAK from the In Good Repair collection.

A deep-wine leather luggage tag blind-debossed with a five-staple repaired seam and BETTER FOR THE BREAK from the In Good Repair collection.

A pale-greige leather luggage tag blind-debossed with a five-staple repaired seam and BETTER FOR THE BREAK from the In Good Repair collection.

Next, a thumbprint over the words IMPROVES WITH USE – a keychain gets handled more than anything else we make, and leather keeps the record. The owner's hands do the finishing.

Black-and-white die artwork of a thumbprint above IMPROVES WITH USE for the In Good Repair leather collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – once in warm tan, once in navy.

A caramel leather keychain blind-debossed with a thumbprint and IMPROVES WITH USE from the In Good Repair collection.

A navy leather keychain blind-debossed with a thumbprint and IMPROVES WITH USE from the In Good Repair collection.

Then, in the corner of the toiletry bag, a little oil can above REGULAR MAINTENANCE – the conservator's term for what happens at the sink every morning. The stack is honeyed russet over deep espresso brown.

Black-and-white die artwork of a small oil can above REGULAR MAINTENANCE for the In Good Repair leather collection.

Honeyed-russet and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-debossed with an oil can and REGULAR MAINTENANCE from the In Good Repair collection.

Then the catchall tray. We set an empty plinth on the base and engraved PERMANENT COLLECTION across its face – whatever the pockets surrender tonight goes straight on exhibition.

Black-and-white die artwork of an empty plinth bearing PERMANENT COLLECTION for the In Good Repair leather collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful on the golden tan.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-debossed with an empty plinth and PERMANENT COLLECTION from the In Good Repair collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Paper made to outlast its readers earns a mark – an infinity sign inside a circle. We gave the journal the same certificate, above the words ARCHIVAL QUALITY, because what gets written down by hand is meant to last.

Black-and-white die artwork of an infinity seal above ARCHIVAL QUALITY for the In Good Repair leather collection.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – one journal in pale greige, the color of the boxes archives actually use, and one in deep wine.

A pale-greige leather journal blind-debossed with an infinity seal and ARCHIVAL QUALITY from the In Good Repair collection.

A deep-wine leather journal blind-debossed with an infinity seal and ARCHIVAL QUALITY from the In Good Repair collection.

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