The Coaching Days – a leather collection from the age of horse-drawn travel

Volume I-B – Commercial Fit Independent Study.

A September study.

The Coaching Days – four designs from the age of horse-drawn travel, when a journey creaked and jingled and every strap of it was somebody's handiwork. We pressed them into leather, the material that world trusted first.

First, the tags. We set a Concord coach rolling toward a low rising sun and wrote THE STAGE LEAVES AT DAWN above it – the whole promise of overland travel in one line, running the length of the tag.

The black tag carries the press in gold, the way coach painters laid gilt striping on a dark body. The deep wine and warm tan tags take a blind deboss. It looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

A black-and-white die plate of a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days leather collection.

A black leather luggage tag gold stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.

A sangria leather luggage tag blind stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.

Next, the wheelwright's verdict. We drew a carriage wheel dead-on and set RUNS TRUE beneath it – the words a wheelwright says when the wheel spins clean on the bench, and a good thing to hear about yourself every time the keys come out.

One fob in chestnut, one in deep coach green. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A black-and-white die plate of a carriage wheel marked Runs True from The Coaching Days leather collection.

A Sicilian brown leather keychain stamped with the Runs True carriage wheel from The Coaching Days collection.

A forest green leather keychain stamped with the Runs True carriage wheel from The Coaching Days collection.

Then the journals. Two wagon ruts curve away over a low hill with hoofprints walking between them, and above the horizon: EVERY ROAD WAS NEW ONCE. A line for anyone who reads history, or writes some down. One journal in honeyed russet, one in deep espresso brown.

A black-and-white die plate of wagon ruts and hoofprints from The Coaching Days leather collection.

An Indian Summer leather journal stamped with wagon ruts and hoofprints from The Coaching Days collection.

A dark espresso leather journal stamped with wagon ruts and hoofprints from The Coaching Days collection.

And finally, the end of the day. We hung a horse collar on its peg with the reins looped over and wrote UNHITCHED FOR THE NIGHT beneath it – the same small ceremony a catchall tray performs for pockets every evening. It went onto the golden tan tray at generous size, and onto a warm tan over chestnut dopp kit for the traveler who unhitches somewhere new.

A black-and-white die plate of a horse collar and reins from The Coaching Days leather collection.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with a horse collar and reins from The Coaching Days collection.

Caramel and Sicilian brown leather dopp kits stamped with a horse collar and reins from The Coaching Days 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 these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.

P.S.

An alternate black leather luggage tag gold stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.

An alternate sangria leather luggage tag blind stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.

An alternate caramel leather luggage tag blind stamped with a dawn stagecoach from The Coaching Days collection.