To our Moms and all Mothers who have taught us swag, style, beauty, jazziness, grace, laughter, healing, and being powerful. Who introduce us to patience, acceptance, being grateful and humble, showing class and being devoted. Who told us to follow our heart, keep it real, living a life of giving, fall in love, and being open minded. To love ourselves, to being committed, having self-respect and doing the right thing, and experiencing unconditional love. To say nothing if you don’t have anything nice to say. Always represent Mom well in public through manners and appearance. Never stop learning no matter how many years you’ve lived. Take care of Mother Earth. And to pass all of this knowledge on to future generations. T. Michael is not only a master in building stunning bespoke leather products, but he has the talent to create word symphonies into beautiful poems. We decided that there was no better way than to honor Mother’s Day by sharing this poem he wrote years ago for his Mother. Enjoy! Blessings from Above Going from one child to another I love what you made us become, Mother Your beauty and grace makes you a queen And your children are proof of your winning team I do not see you often but I miss you much You have an everlasting effect that keeps me in touch I thank you for your support and trust If it were not for you, I would be in the dust I remember those times when you gave us an inch and we took a mile This was knowledge gained as our lessons started to pile Teaching us each day was your mission And wanting the best for us, you were wishing I will never forget those hot meals right before sunrise Hearing you call […]
Take a journey with me and think about your last visit to your favorite luxury leather handbag shop. Like a five star meal where many of your senses are heightened by the texture, smell and sight that only leather can bring about. Touching leather is a sensual experience like no other. Caressing your fingers across leather allows you to feel both the perfections and imperfections of the skin, the cut edges that have been smoothed and tanned to feel baby soft, the texture of the hide that has gone through various processes to prepare for the hands of the artisan. The astonishing smells of leather that trigger powerful memories and bonding us to the earthy, natural smells of Mother Earth; leather consumers LOVE the smell of leather. And finally, the look of leather, just like snowflakes; every hide has its own beautiful distinct shape, pattern, and how it takes dyes. When we make decisions based on the design elements and colors of our products, our commitment to working with methods that are environmentally friendly is to use more manufactures that have sustainable processes. One area that we have made this commitment has to do with the tanning and dying processes of our leathers. We focus on two methods: purchasing from tanneries and wholesalers that produce vegetable tanned leather; or when doing the dying ourselves, using water based stains and dyes (using one solid color or mixing dyes to obtain a unique look such as our pearl-toned handbags). Vegetable tanning is an old world process that uses tannin that comes naturally in the bark, branches, leaves and even the fruit of many plants. The raw hides are soaked in large pits for several weeks in increasing concentrations of tannin until the hide becomes leather. Depending on the goal of the tannery, […]
