Family first?
Family Leathercraft Business
Built a handcrafted tool-gear range that became Pinewood’s preferred choice, evolving a small leathercraft operation into the UK’s leading film-industry supplier.
Challenge
The craft began organically as a sideline to my father’s shoe repair workshop. The original products were handmade, undocumented and difficult to scale. The challenge was turning leatherwork into a system, defining and standardising products, then building a website to grow the business while protecting the culture and heritage of its roots.
Approach
I worked alongside my father in the workshop, redesigning and formalising products. We rebuilt the range from the ground up, defining patterns and construction. I created digital templates in Illustrator, then we produced physical jigs and forming tools. I then build a strategy, indentity, naming systems, photography and copywriting to carry the craft online.
Outcome
We turned an informal collection into a structured ecosystem of forty tools. Traditional wet forming techniques remained intact while production became repeatable. The range launched with a new identity and online shop, evolving through rebrands and mobile commerce. What began as a sideline became a recognised supplier to UK film crews.
Impact
The business became profitable, resilient and respected. Products now last decades and are repaired for free. Families pass them through generations. Beyond revenue, it showed design led craft can thrive ethically. The journey reinforced my belief in durability, systems thinking and care, proving sustainability means making fewer, better products.
Rollout
Our products
Each product is handcrafted for durability, whilst respecting materials and traditions of repair culture. Rooted in cobbler heritage, the beauty of form comes directly from function. Every shape serves purpose, and the range shares an aesthetic that is unmistakably ours. We are proud to sell products that literally last for decades!
Our craft
Craft is a living process. It’s about iterating, testing, and improving over time. Days become years, years become decades. Through hands-on work and close connection with materials, quality emerges naturally. Our work is shaped by curiosity, discipline and lived experience.
Reflection
The act of physical making is real medicine, it quiets the mind and reminds us of our empowerment
Understanding that there is still space in the UK market for traditional handmade products
Sense of pride for designing and selling physical products that last the test of time
