Timeless British leather bags, jubilant Venetian glass pendants
The Craftsman: Issue n.024 — August 2020
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With the easing of lockdwon rules in the UK, I’ve finally been able to meet craftsmen in person once again. This month I share the story of London based leathersmith Charlie Borrow, and offer a glimpse into the work of traditional Venetian artisan Marisa Convento.
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Charlie Borrow, Leathersmith & Luggage Maker
Charlie Borrow started making leather and canvas bags in his bedroom in his late teens. He got into it while taking a course in fashion textiles at college, where Charlie learnt how to use a sowing machine, pattern making, and other techniques. Dreaming of becoming a bespoke tailor, he moved to London to attend university, but dropped out after finding it too heavy on theory and too light on practical matters. He later tried to get a job as an apprentice by knocking on doors at Saville Row, but the timing was not right.
This didn’t deter Charlie from making things. He did alteration tailoring for friends and a handful of clients, and leather work with materials found at a bargain sales in Brick Lane and on eBay. His mother wanted a leather tote bag for her birthday, so Charlie made one for her, and later one for himself too. At eighteen he was working at the Paul Smith retail shop in Covent Garden, where colleagues noticed his bag and asked if he could make similar ones in different colours. At a certain point, out of the 60 staff at Paul Smith, 25 had one of Charlie’s bags. In those days, the pricing was very straightforward: materials cost plus ten or twenty pounds. Seeing his bags in use day in and day out allowed Charlie to notice what worked and what didn’t, and his colleagues would offer feedback that allowed him to tweak and improve the designs.
At this point, Charlie was still making products in his bedroom. However, when his obsessive buying of used sowing machines resulted in seven of them plus stock material occupying most of the room, he decided to bite the bullet and move into a proper workshop, where he became part of a local community of small makers. To make ends meet, he spent four days plus overtime at Paul Smith, and worked at a bar during the weekends.
He would eventually start showing his products at trade fairs, and thanks to a serendipitous introduction to a Japanese sales agent, Charlie Borrow entered the wholesale market. His products became available through several stockists in Japan, which led to an order of 80 hand-stitched leather bags, each one taking up to a day to make. Although it was a lot of money, he wasn’t confident it would happen twice, so he kept the Paul Smith and bar jobs for about three more years.
With time, Charlie started to understand the business side better, including pricing, taxes, and how to present himself. Thanks to his agent, orders became more consistent, and he eventually took the scary leap into full time self-employment. Not having additional staff has been a conscious decision, as right now Charlie — who’s 27 years old — would rather continue doing all the work himself instead of becoming a manager to others, or even outsourcing some of the simpler products. As he puts it, “I’m not yet done with the development of myself as a maker”.
These days Charlie doesn’t have to think too much about sales. His products are presented at trade shows four times a year. Yet, having direct contact with customers is still very important to him. That’s why his workshop has a retail space akin to an open kitchen restaurant. Customers can walk in and see how things are being made or request a bespoke product. He moved into his newest shop by Columbia Road in March, just before lockdown was enacted.
His products are functional, no logo, and season-less, evolving only when it means improving the small details that matter. Inspired by old military bags, he uses natural materials from small traditional suppliers, most of which are sourced locally or as local as possible. The leather comes from a tannery in Devon, rivets and buckles are from seasoned metalworkers from the UK, and some of the textiles are made in Eastern Europe and finished in Britain.
A bespoke bag can easily take a week to make, and his products are luxury items made to last for a long time. Charlie’s signature hand stitched bag starts at about 900 pounds, and you can request several modifications like the addition of extra pockets and straps.
He’s currently working on a series of exciting collaborations with woodworkers, furniture, and interior designers. At the time of my visit he was restoring a classic Bauhaus Wassily Chair.
Charlie Borrow Workshop
59 Virginia Road
London E2 7NF
United Kingdom
charlieborrow.com
@charlieborrowworkshop
Marisa Convento’s Venetian Dreams
Marisa Convento is an Impiraressa, one of the last active ones in Venice. The word indicates the craftspeople making jewellery out of strung glass beads from the island of Murano. I met Marisa a few years ago through a friend who owns one of her famous coral pendants.
The faux corals were born from the request of an elegant American woman who had moved into a palazzo’s piano nobile on Venice’s Grand Canal. Her decorator, the famous Hollywood set designer Tony Duquette, had imagined a jubilant space with fine stuccos and chandeliers featuring said corals. Eventually, they ended up using wood instead of glass, but by that time Marisa had already started making coral beads, which she fashioned into jewellery instead. Since then, they have become her best selling design.
Earlier this year, Marisa moved her lab inside Bottega Cini, a new kind of shop representing local artisan excellence inspired by the city’s Renaissance heritage.
Venetian Dreams di Marisa Convento
Dorsoduro 862
30123 Venezia
Italy
marisaconvento.it
@marisaconvento
Read
- Meet the clickbait craftmakers (FT How to Spend It) — A look into why the largest consumers of craft products in the UK are millennials and Gen-Zers.
- The Thinnest Paper in the World (NY Times) — Tengujo paper has a 1000 year old history, and is cherished for paper conservation at places like the US Library of Congress, the Louvre, and the British Museum.
Watch
- Tsuchiya Kaban Creates Leather Bag Specifically for Carrying Watermelon (Spoon & Tamago) — It’s now possible to carry a watermelon in style thanks to this Japanese leather bag maker!
- Making a point (Monocle) — This old video from the Monocle archive features artisans from Istanbul, Cape Town, and Mallorca.
Check Out
- Let’s Create! Pottery 2 App (iOS) — This quirky app is a game aimed at reducing your stress by allowing you to create, decorate, and sell virtual pottery. I must admit that I’ve poured several hours into it during the harder months of lockdown.
Shop
- Georgia Dorey from In Praise of The Fold has created an exclusive set of facial cleansing cloths for Kyūshi.
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