The Silver Garden – a leather collection for Oneida, New York

From the Practice Log – Volume I-A, an independent study.

A September study.

Between 1861 and 1878 a communal society in Oneida, New York, built itself one enormous house, wing by wing, and kept beside it a knot garden whose beds have held their geometry for more than 150 years. The same community's workshops grew into the world's largest silverware company. We designed a small leather collection for that world and named it The Silver Garden.

First, the house itself. We drew the Mansion House as the camera found it in the early 1870s – wooden house at one end and tall brick wing at the other, the square tower standing over the columned porch between them – and set the years of its assembly underneath: 1861 to 1878. A house that grew lengthwise belongs on a luggage tag lengthwise.

The Mansion House elevation stamp artwork for The Silver Garden leather collection of Oneida, New York.

It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries the gold; the deep green and warm tan tags take the blind press.

A black leather luggage tag with a gold Mansion House elevation stamp from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the Mansion House elevation from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the Mansion House elevation from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

Next, the silverware. We stood five spoons in an open drawer, no two bowls alike, with ONEIDA beneath – the town that set America's tables. The deep wine keychain plays the drawer's burgundy lining; the pale warm greige one lets the spoons do the talking. The same drawer rides in the lower corner of the dopp kit, warm tan over deep brown, the colors of walnut casework.

The five-spoon drawer stamp artwork for The Silver Garden leather collection of Oneida, New York.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A sangria leather keychain blind-stamped with five Oneida spoons from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

A gray-sand leather keychain blind-stamped with five Oneida spoons from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

Caramel and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with five Oneida spoons from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

Then the Knot Garden. Its beds have kept one geometry for more than 150 summers, and every July the flowers overrun it – so we tied the beds into a single interlaced knot, plan view, and let the coneflowers spill across the ribbons. A catchall tray is read from above, exactly like a garden plan; on the golden tan tray the knot waits at the bottom and holds whatever the day drops in.

The flowering Knot Garden stamp artwork for The Silver Garden leather collection of Oneida, New York.

An arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the flowering Knot Garden from The Silver Garden collection of Oneida, New York.

And finally, the black walnut of the South Lawn, planted in the Community's first years and grown into a New York state champion. We drew its spreading crown above the words STATE CHAMPION and pressed it into the journal's corner – deep brown like walnut heartwood, deep green like the canopy. A journal makes the sapling's bargain: give it time.

The state-champion black walnut stamp artwork for The Silver Garden leather collection of Oneida, New York.

A dark-espresso leather journal blind-stamped with Oneida's state-champion walnut from The Silver Garden collection.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with Oneida's state-champion walnut from The Silver Garden 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.