Worth Keeping – a leather collection for gifts that stay in use

From the Practice Log – Volume I-D, a study in gift design.

A September study.

Worth Keeping is a small collection about the best kind of gift – the one chosen so exactly for a person that it settles into daily use and stays there. Every design here is built for that moment of recognition, when the recipient sees the stamp and knows the thing was picked for their hand.

First, we drew a grain print – a tree's growth rings gathered into the oval of a thumbprint, since a tree never repeats itself and neither does a person – and set ONE OF A KIND beneath it. A luggage tag is where a name usually goes; this one says it better.

Black-and-white ONE OF A KIND growth-ring stamp artwork from the Worth Keeping leather collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – the third tag glows a honeyed russet.

A Caramel leather luggage tag blind debossed with the ONE OF A KIND growth-ring design.

A Sicilian Brown leather luggage tag blind debossed with the ONE OF A KIND growth-ring design.

An Indian Summer leather luggage tag blind debossed with the ONE OF A KIND growth-ring design.

Next, we cut a dovetail – the black tails of one board seated into the white pins of another, the joint that holds two pieces together with nothing added – and wrote MADE TO FIT beneath it. The keychains come as a dark one and a light one, so a pair can split between two pockets and still belong together.

Black-and-white MADE TO FIT dovetail-joint stamp artwork from the Worth Keeping leather collection.

A Dark Espresso leather keychain blind debossed with the MADE TO FIT dovetail-joint design.

A Caramel leather keychain blind debossed with the MADE TO FIT dovetail-joint design.

Then, ODDS & ENDS – the honest name for whatever a day leaves behind. We scattered the culprits around the letters: a button, a hair pin, a spool of thread, a little spreader knife. The tray catches them on the dresser; the toiletry bag swallows them on the road.

Black-and-white ODDS AND ENDS stamp artwork with four small everyday objects from the Worth Keeping leather collection.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind debossed with the ODDS AND ENDS design.

Caramel and Sicilian Brown leather dopp kits blind debossed with the ODDS AND ENDS design.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A wooden spoon worn flat on one side of its bowl – the mark only years of the same hand can leave – standing beside THE ONE YOU REACH FOR. On a journal cover it makes a quiet case for writing the good recipes down.

Black-and-white THE ONE YOU REACH FOR worn-spoon stamp artwork from the Worth Keeping leather collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

A Dark Espresso leather journal blind debossed with THE ONE YOU REACH FOR worn-spoon design.

A Gray Sand leather journal blind debossed with THE ONE YOU REACH FOR worn-spoon design.

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.