Updraft – a leather collection from Elmira Heights, New York
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of original leather design studies.
A September study. Volume I-B.
This is Updraft, a small leather collection rooted in Elmira Heights, New York – in the ridges that taught this valley to fly, and in the river that winds below them. Four designs, stamped across the whole line, luggage tags to journals.
First, the sailplane. The hills here throw air upward, and a glider with no engine at all can ride that lift for hours – so we drew one climbing, and set STILL CLIMBING beneath it. For a retirement, or for anyone halfway up something long.
It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries the gold. The green one is the wooded ridge, and the golden tan one is the valley in early autumn light.
Next, we drew the eleven glacial lakes just as they lie on the map, the two long ones near the middle reaching deepest, and set FINGER LAKES beneath them.
On keychains it comes in pale sea-blue and in navy – lake water, both of them. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.
And the same eleven again, at generous size, across a catchall tray in golden tan.
Then, for the journals, a small octagonal study out of this town's history – stone chimney, scalloped eaves – where some very famous pages were written. We set EVERY STORY STARTS SOMEWHERE beneath it, and pressed it small in the corner of the cover, right where a story would start.
One journal in deep espresso for its timber, one in warm gray for its stone.
And finally, the Chemung, which has never once taken the straight way through this valley. One winding ribbon over TAKE THE LONG WAY, pressed into the corner of a toiletry bag – navy over deep brown, for the traveler who agrees.
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 anything here made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.
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