Small Ceremonies – a leather collection for the day's quiet rituals

A September study – Volume I-D.

Small Ceremonies is a small exhibition of leather for the gestures a day repeats: leaving and returning, beginning and setting things down. Each design carries one phrase, chosen so a giver can say, in leather, I noticed how you live.

First, the luggage tags. We drew a swallow – the bird that always finds its way back – streaming a long banner that reads TAKE ME WITH YOU. It is the giver's line as much as the traveler's, and the tag says it every time the bag leaves the house.

Black-and-white TAKE ME WITH YOU swallow-and-banner die artwork for the Small Ceremonies leather collection, Volume I-D.

Black carries the words in gold; navy and golden tan take a blind press. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A black leather luggage tag with a gold-foil swallow and TAKE ME WITH YOU banner from the Small Ceremonies collection.

A blueberry leather luggage tag blind-debossed with a swallow and TAKE ME WITH YOU banner from the Small Ceremonies collection.

An Arizona tan leather luggage tag blind-debossed with a swallow and TAKE ME WITH YOU banner from the Small Ceremonies collection.

Next, the toiletry bags – a stacked pair, warm mid-gray over deep brown. In the lower corner of each we pressed a small half sun on a horizon over the words GO WELL, the blessing said at every departure. Whether the sun is rising or setting is left to the day.

Black-and-white GO WELL half-sun and horizon die artwork for the Small Ceremonies leather collection, Volume I-D.

Country-gray and dark-espresso leather dopp kits blind-debossed with the GO WELL half-sun design from the Small Ceremonies collection.

Then, the keychains. A door stands ajar and the light through the gap does the drawing; beneath the threshold, ALMOST HOME. Keys come out at exactly that moment, so the stamp meets its person a few steps before the door does.

Black-and-white ALMOST HOME open-door and light die artwork for the Small Ceremonies leather collection, Volume I-D.

It looks genuinely beautiful in deep green and in pale warm greige.

A forest-green leather keychain blind-debossed with the ALMOST HOME open-door design from the Small Ceremonies collection.

A gray-sand leather keychain blind-debossed with the ALMOST HOME open-door design from the Small Ceremonies collection.

The catchall tray came next. Around the design runs an open ring of the small things pockets carry – a key, a coin, and so on – and at the center, THE DAY GOES HERE. The tray receives all of it every evening; now it admits as much, in golden tan.

Black-and-white THE DAY GOES HERE pocket-object ring die artwork for the Small Ceremonies leather collection, Volume I-D.

An Arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-debossed with six pocket objects around THE DAY GOES HERE from the Small Ceremonies collection.

And finally, the journals – the design we would give first. A single page with its corner turned down, one line just begun, and beneath it PAGE ONE. A journal is a gift that grants permission to start, and the cover now says so quietly, in deep wine and in dusty lavender.

Black-and-white PAGE ONE folded-page die artwork for the Small Ceremonies leather collection, Volume I-D.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

A sangria leather journal blind-debossed with the PAGE ONE folded-page design from the Small Ceremonies collection.

A lilac leather journal blind-debossed with the PAGE ONE folded-page design from the Small Ceremonies 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.