Leather looks, feels and smells fabulous. And if you’d like to handle some of the leathers I work with, please drop me a note using the Form on the Contact page and I’ll send you some samples.

I really enjoy creating stylish and practical products for customers in the UK, Mainland Europe, North America and Australasia.

I am based in the Woodford Valley in Wiltshire and I spend my working day cutting, shaping and hand-stitching leather. All of the items you’ll find on my website are first road-tested by me and my family, both in the home and travelling. I add to the range periodically.

The starting point for each of my products is a hide of vegetable-tanned leather. Add linen thread, gum arabic (for burnishing the edges) and high quality brass accessories and you have a stylish, hard-wearing product that, with a little maintenance, will look even better as it ages.

I really do believe in ‘buying better’, where we make positive and more sustainable choices in selecting objects that will last for decades. My products reflect that ethos, whether storing logs handily by the fireplace, ‘toting’ essential items around town or, much further field. My rod tubes and reel covers bring a bit of old school charm to protecting incredibly technical and sensitive equipment. A by-product of animal husbandry, leather remains a beautiful and practical material despite the many synthetic alternatives.

I select every hide myself, as there is no substitute for feeling its heft and texture as I visualise how the natural grain will play out in a finished item, especially where that requires a large singe piece, for example, log baskets where the main body measures 100cms x 45cms. My main supplier of Italian and Belgian leather is based in Dalston, East London and I also source direct from a tannery in Devon.

Given that the process is time-consuming, I am often asked about the benefits of hand-stitching compared to machine stitching, (and it’s worth noting that most top end ‘hand made’ leather items are stitched by sewing machine) and, as well as the satisfaction in carrying on the craft, there are three main advantages: first, natural leather has small inconsistencies in density and firmness, therefore you can exert differing pressures for each individual stitch, to make sure the join has the best possible tension; second, you use a single line of thread, as opposed to two, meaning it can absorb more pressure and, should a stitch be damaged, will maintain the bond much better – think of the times when a thread on a garment frays and the machine stitching just unravels; third, and this is more about aesthetics, one can switch between stitch lengths in a single line to create a pattern.

So there you have it. It’s why I do what I do and why Pêche Leather pieces are special and will serve you for many years to come.