Provenance – a leather collection in the language of well-kept objects

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

A September study – Shops Waterfall, Volume I-C.

Old furniture speaks in small print. A maker's oval burned under a drawer rail, a paper tag still tied through a pull – quiet notations that prove a thing was made well and then kept. We pressed that language into new leather and called the collection Provenance.

First, we took the kindest phrase in the secondhand trade – ONE CAREFUL OWNER – and curved it inside a double oval around a Windsor chair, the way a cabinetmaker once burned a mark under the seat.

The black-and-white ONE CAREFUL OWNER Windsor-chair stamp plate from the Provenance leather collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful. Two of the luggage tags wear it blind, in chestnut and in a pale sea-blue that remembers painted furniture. The black tag carries the stamp in gold.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the ONE CAREFUL OWNER Windsor-chair mark from the Provenance collection.

A Sicilian-brown leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the ONE CAREFUL OWNER Windsor-chair mark from the Provenance collection.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the ONE CAREFUL OWNER Windsor-chair mark from the Provenance collection.

The same oval rides the toiletry bags, pressed small in the lower corner – honeyed russet over dark espresso.

Honeyed-russet and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with the ONE CAREFUL OWNER Windsor-chair mark from the Provenance collection.

Next, we drew the paper tag every good find arrives wearing, string and eyelet included, and gave it the trade's plainest verdict: AS FOUND.

The black-and-white AS FOUND swing-tag stamp plate from the Provenance leather collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – once on a pale greige close to the tag's own aged paper, and once on deep wine.

A gray-sand leather keychain blind-stamped with the AS FOUND swing-tag design from the Provenance collection.

A sangria leather keychain blind-stamped with the AS FOUND swing-tag design from the Provenance collection.

And finally, we cut a dovetail – the corner joint a cabinetmaker trusts with a century – and set it above the words MADE TO BE KEPT.

The black-and-white MADE TO BE KEPT dovetail-joint stamp plate from the Provenance leather collection.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather. On the journals it sits low on the front corner, in caramel and in dark espresso; a page a day is how a thing like this earns its keeping.

A caramel leather journal blind-stamped with the MADE TO BE KEPT dovetail design from the Provenance collection.

A dark-espresso leather journal blind-stamped with the MADE TO BE KEPT dovetail design from the Provenance collection.

The catchall tray in golden tan takes it at full size – the dish where a household's small objects wait out the night.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the MADE TO BE KEPT dovetail design from the Provenance 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 any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.