With fellow artisan Yohei Fukuda<\/p>\n VR: Have you any children or spouse (and how do they relate to your leather enthusiasm)?<\/span><\/p>\n VR: …and your parents and siblings’ reactions back when you first decided to go for this job?<\/span><\/p>\n VR: How did you first become interested in artisanal goods, and when did you turn your eyes towards leather working? Why this material over others?<\/span><\/p>\n VR:How have you gathered your knowledge of the trade — from books, in-house training, workshops or somewhere else?<\/span><\/p>\n From Nat Boyd I moved on to work at Dunhill London’s bespoke workshop. This is where, I believe, I learned the true level of luxury and handcrafted products. When I joined, there was a small team of master craftspeople all of whom had decades of knowledge and experience of traditional and also modern luxury leather craft. My manager had previously worked for Yves Saint Laurent and Herm\u00e8s and the two senior craftspeople I was working with had been at Dunhill, previously known as Tanner Krolle, each for more than 10 years. Working with such skilled and knowledgeable artisans was incredible, the focus at the time of my arrival was the manufacturing of their traditional top frame briefcase, ‘The Worsley’. Learning how to make such a product that consists of all aspects of luxury leather crafting from hand burnishing the edge with a burnishing mitten to hand stitching the frame and handle pushed my skills to a new level. I am indebted to the team at Dunhill for the time and knowledge they shared with me.<\/p>\n After my time at Dunhill, I was approached by Simpson’s London who were building a new state of the art factory in London with the intention to reboot the English leather crafting industry. Simpson’s products share many similarities to the products I was making at Dunhill, such as using English bridle hides and hand stitching, so it made for a desirable opportunity. After a year working at Simpson’s I was made senior craftsperson and put in charge of one of their departments, the medium leather goods section where we made briefcases, messenger bags and travel bags. Working at Simpson’s was a fantastic opportunity because they also manufactured products for other luxury brands. This meant the work was varied and gave myself and my team the chance to try out and learn new making techniques.<\/p>\n VR:Please describe how your company was born and what goals you set for yourself in the beginning. How have you been received so far?<\/span><\/p>\n VR:Have you any particular style or detail philosophy for your wares?<\/span><\/p>\n VR: Who or what inspires you?<\/span><\/p>\n VR: Why should Keikari’s readers choose you over other British leather artisans?<\/p>\n RN: When selecting luxury leather goods and accessories it’s always difficult to know who to choose; I’d recommend one of my products over many of the other brandsout there because I can customise any of them to your requirements. None of my designs are set in stone and if you require your own personal pocket insert, material choice or leather choice, my past experience within the industry gives me fantastic access to many world-renowned suppliers as well as unknown gems of which many other smaller brands don’t usually offer. I frequently receive messages from fellow craftspeople enquiring about my suppliers but these are sacred and have taken years to collate, so I do not hand them out.<\/p>\n VR: What’s your definition of style?<\/p>\n RN: Style is all about details and how you edit looks to your personality. In the sector that I have focused my products on, men\u2019s style as well as my own is all about tailored fits set off with accessories, such as watches, shoes, and choice jewellery. The more time I spend around quality products, the more I want my attire to be entirely selected. It’s difficult to be stylish from head to toe everyday but, for me, a decent pair of shoes or boots, combined with my every day jewellery (two silver rings and a single bangle) along with a well-fitted pair of trousers and a woollen top works well.<\/p>\n VR: Finally, have you any tips for identifying quality leather and make?<\/p>\n RN: After spending a long time working with leather as my creative medium, my first characteristic when selecting leather is, how does it feel to the touch? Whether it\u2019s vegetable tanned of chrome tanned, I will always expect the surface to have some kind of wax\/oil feel. Dry, rigid skins are a sign of being dried too quickly using heaters or not being left in the tanning drums long enough to properly absorb the dyes. A poor quality leather will almost certainly begin to crack or break far sooner than a well finished, properly tanned hide.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.madebynichols.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.keikari.com\/english\/wp-content\/pictures\/2020\/03\/Interview_with_Rory_Nichols_from_Made_by_Nichols_at_Keikari_dot_com.jpeg\")
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