Just After the Fork – a Lake Alfred, Florida leather collection

An August collection.

Just After the Fork is a small leather collection for Lake Alfred, Florida – the lake-chain town on the old citrus ridge, where the best driving directions still hinge on a split in a country road. We drew five stamps from the town itself and pressed each one into full-grain leather.

First, the direction everyone out here already knows. A sand road parts in two, a wooden fingerpost stands at the parting, and JUST AFTER THE FORK runs above it like a roadside sign. We pressed it lengthwise along a trio of luggage tags in golden citrus tan and deep lake navy, joined by the pale greige of a sand road.

The black fingerpost stamp design for the Just After the Fork leather collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with a forked road and fingerpost for the Just After the Fork collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Next, the Chain of Lakes taken at its word. We traced the lakes as links and locked them into an actual chain, so the piece that holds your keys carries the water that holds the town. One keychain in deep navy, one in pale sea-blue.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black interlocking lake-link stamp design for the Just After the Fork leather collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Two leather keychains stamped with interlocking lake contours for the Just After the Fork collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Then we cut a packinghouse roundel in the old crate-label style – one orange under two leaves, with LAKE ALFRED arched over FLORIDA – and stamped it small in the corner of toiletry bags stacked golden tan over chestnut.

The black citrus crate stamp design for the Just After the Fork leather collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with a Lake Alfred citrus crate roundel for the Just After the Fork collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

A catchall tray is where the day gets emptied out, so we gave it a low sun over ruled water and wrote GOOD OLD DAYS across the sky, after the festival the town once threw for its own memory. On the golden tan tray it looks genuinely beautiful.

The black sun and lake stamp design for the Just After the Fork leather collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with a low sun for the Just After the Fork collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A citrus branch carries blossom and fruit at the same time – the promise and the proof on one stem – which is exactly what a journal holds. BLOSSOM AND FRUIT sits in the lower corner of journals in deep grove green and warm caramel.

The black citrus blossom and fruit stamp design for the Just After the Fork leather collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

Two leather journals stamped with citrus blossom and fruit for the Just After the Fork collection of Lake Alfred, Florida.

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