Kept – a leather collection for the things worth keeping

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

A September study – Volume I-C.

Kept is a small leather collection about the way ordinary things become worth keeping – the ledger that outlives the hotel, the glove that outlives the season. We borrowed the language museums use for the objects they hold onto and pressed it into luggage tags, journals and the rest of a small working line.

First, we wrote ON LOAN FROM HOME inside a classic tie-on tag, eyelet and string and all – the label a museum hangs on anything it trusts to leave the building. On a luggage tag it runs lengthwise, and every trip becomes a loan that ends well.

The black-and-white ON LOAN FROM HOME tie-on tag stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries it in gold, the way a brass plate sits on an old display case; the pale greige and chestnut tags take a blind press.

A black leather luggage tag stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME in gold.

A gray-sand leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME.

A Sicilian-brown leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME.

Next, STILL IN USE – a little wall label for the one artifact that never retired. Keys earn their wear every single day; the fob finally says so.

The black-and-white STILL IN USE gallery-label stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – once on golden tan, once on navy.

An Arizona leather keychain blind-stamped with STILL IN USE.

A blueberry leather keychain blind-stamped with STILL IN USE.

Then we made a small accession tag carrying the single word KEPT, tilted the way a paper tag settles against whatever it is tied to. It sits low in the corner of the toiletry bags, honeyed russet over deep espresso, quiet as a maker's mark.

The black-and-white KEPT accession-tag stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

Indian Summer and dark-espresso leather dopp kits blind-stamped with the KEPT accession tag.

Then EXHIBIT A for the catchall tray – four corner marks framing the spot where keys and ticket stubs get laid out like evidence at the end of the day.

The black-and-white EXHIBIT A corner-bracket stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped with EXHIBIT A and four corner brackets.

And finally, PRIMARY SOURCE – an archivist's stamp for the lower corner of the journals, because a diary is exactly that. Whoever fills these pages is writing the document some future reader will be glad somebody kept.

The black-and-white PRIMARY SOURCE archival stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – one journal in deep brown, one in pale greige.

A dark-espresso leather journal blind-stamped with PRIMARY SOURCE.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with PRIMARY SOURCE.

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.

P.S.

An alternate ON LOAN FROM HOME tie-on tag stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

An alternate STILL IN USE gallery-label stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

An alternate KEPT accession-tag stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

An alternate EXHIBIT A corner-bracket stamp plate from the Kept leather collection.

An alternate black leather luggage tag stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME in gold.

An alternate gray-sand leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME.

An alternate Sicilian-brown leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with ON LOAN FROM HOME.