The River Garden Collection – a Garden City, Idaho leather stamping study

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

An August study.

Garden City, Idaho is a long, narrow city that runs beside the Boise River, and it carries its name from the gardens Chinese immigrant farmers once kept along these banks. We designed a leather collection for the place – the River Garden Collection, five designs, each pressed into a different piece.

First, the shape of the town. Garden City lives in the strip between Chinden Boulevard and the Boise River, so we drew the road along the top of the tag, the river along the bottom, and set GARDEN CITY on the ground between them. The trio runs lengthwise, in deep green and pale sea-blue. The black tag carries the design in gold foil.

The black-and-white River Road stamp design for The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with River Road from The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Next, the word. Locals say chin-den without thinking, and the name splices CHINA into GARDEN, after those same river gardens – so we planted the word and let seedlings come up through the letters. One keychain in deep soil brown, one in warm straw tan.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white Chinden seedling stamp design for The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Two leather keychains stamped with Chinden from The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Then the bees. Garden City is Idaho's first Bee City USA, with a pollinator garden kept by the library – so a honeybee holds the corner of the toiletry bag, ringed by the city's two titles. The stack is honey amber over chestnut, which felt right.

The black-and-white Bee City stamp design for The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with a Bee City roundel from The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

The catchall tray took SEED MONEY – for what a gardener's pockets hold at the end of the day. We ringed the words with seeds scattered like loose change and pressed the whole design, at a generous size, into golden tan.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white Seed Money stamp design for The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with Seed Money from The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Every plan in a Treasure Valley garden waits on a single date, so the journal's corner carries a seedling standing over the words AFTER THE LAST FROST. Whatever gets written inside is waiting for it too. One journal in deep green, one in warm tan.

The black-and-white Last Frost stamp design for The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

Two leather journals stamped with After the Last Frost from The River Garden Collection of Garden City, Idaho.

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.