Out & Back – a leather collection for going away and coming home

A September study – Volume I-D.

Some people are forever heading out the door, and some keep the light on for them. Out & Back is a small collection about that traffic – and about everything a pocket carries in between.

First, the luggage tags. A swallow crosses half the world twice a year and still lands on the same beam every spring – so we drew one banking into the turn for home, beside the words RETURNS FAITHFULLY. It is a promise the tag makes on behalf of whoever carries it.

Black-and-white swallow and RETURNS FAITHFULLY die artwork for the Out & Back leather collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries the gold. Deep pine green and dusty lavender take the same swallow as a quiet blind deboss.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the RETURNS FAITHFULLY swallow from the Out & Back collection.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the RETURNS FAITHFULLY swallow from the Out & Back collection.

A lilac leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the RETURNS FAITHFULLY swallow from the Out & Back collection.

Next, the keychains. We built a compass rose and gave it a key for a needle, with LOST WITHOUT THESE underneath. Every household has exactly one person this is for, and whoever picks it up will know their name at once.

Black-and-white compass, key, and LOST WITHOUT THESE die artwork for the Out & Back leather collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – once in warm poppy red, once in dark espresso.

A poppy-red leather keychain blind-stamped with the LOST WITHOUT THESE compass-and-key design.

A dark-espresso leather keychain blind-stamped with the LOST WITHOUT THESE compass-and-key design.

Then, the journals. A thought is the fastest thing a person can lose, so the lower corner of each cover carries a butterfly just lifting off, with BEFORE IT GETS AWAY beneath it. For the ones who sketch what they saw and write down what they heard – in deep pine green or pale greige.

Black-and-white butterfly and BEFORE IT GETS AWAY die artwork for the Out & Back leather collection.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with the BEFORE IT GETS AWAY butterfly design.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with the BEFORE IT GETS AWAY butterfly design.

Then the catchall tray, in golden tan. POCKET AMNESTY, ringed by the usual suspects – the key, the coin, the button, the ticket stub. Whatever the day put in your pockets, all is forgiven at the door.

Black-and-white POCKET AMNESTY die artwork ringed by seven familiar pocket objects.

An Arizona-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the POCKET AMNESTY design.

And finally, the toiletry bags – a honeyed russet bag over a dark espresso one, each stamped TRAVELS WELL in the lower corner, set like a freight stencil. People say it of good wine and of good company, and here it is meant both ways.

Black-and-white freight-stencil TRAVELS WELL die artwork for the Out & Back leather collection.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Indian Summer and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with TRAVELS WELL.

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.

P.S.

An alternate forest-green leather journal render with the BEFORE IT GETS AWAY butterfly study.

An alternate gray-sand leather journal render with the BEFORE IT GETS AWAY butterfly study.