Meet Me on the Square – a Medina, Ohio leather collection

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies. Volume I-B.

An August study.

We designed a small leather collection for Medina, Ohio and named it Meet Me on the Square – five stamps drawn from the Square itself, each pressed into a leather good meant to be given and kept.

First, the gazebo. We drew Uptown Park's pavilion front-on, gingerbread and all, and set MEDINA beneath it – the one silhouette the whole town reads at a glance. It stands upright on the luggage tags.

The gazebo stamp plate for the Meet Me on the Square leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries the gold.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with Medina's gazebo for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

A forest green leather luggage tag stamped with Medina's gazebo for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

A poppy red leather luggage tag stamped with Medina's gazebo for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

Next, the bee. Medina keeps a pocket park for its pollinators, so the keychains got the smallest mark in the collection – a single honeybee over MEDINA.

The honeybee stamp plate for the Meet Me on the Square leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

On honey-gold leather the bee is at home; on the black fob it goes in gold.

An arizona leather keychain stamped with a Medina honeybee for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with a Medina honeybee for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

Then, the arches. The 1878 engine house still holds the Square with its round brick bays, so we ran an arcade of them across the toiletry bags, MEDINA OHIO set on the course beneath.

The engine house arcade stamp plate for the Meet Me on the Square leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

The stack renders honeyed russet over deep espresso – brick over its own shadow.

Honeyed russet and dark espresso leather toiletry bags stamped with Medina's engine house arches for the Meet Me on the Square collection.

Then we drew the Square from above for the catchall tray – the gazebo roof at the center and the walks of Uptown Park radiating out to a rim that reads MEET ME ON THE SQUARE. A tray gathers your pockets each evening the way the commons gathers the town.

The Public Square commons stamp plate for the Meet Me on the Square leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

An arizona leather catchall tray stamped with Medina's Public Square plan for the Meet Me on the Square collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Fire took the wooden Square in 1870 and Medina answered in brick. On the journal cover the words are laid as bricks in running bond – BRICK BY BRICK, with MEDINA 1870 beneath – because that is how a town gets rebuilt, and how a notebook gets filled.

The Brick by Brick stamp plate for the Meet Me on the Square leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

One journal in deep wine, the color of old brick; one in pale greige, the color of the mortar between.

A sangria leather journal stamped Brick by Brick for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

A gray sand leather journal stamped Brick by Brick for the Meet Me on the Square collection of Medina, Ohio.

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 in Medina and you'd like any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.