Personalised Leather Billfold Wallet Kit Be The Maker

11 x 9 cm (approx when closed)

The Be The Maker Billfold Wallet Kit is made in Dartington South Devon by traditional leather craftspeople using either Italian cowhide sourced from a small Tuscan tannery. The hides are aniline dyed which, like stain on wood, lets the grain and all its natural imperfections show through. No two are exactly the same.

Tanner Bates products are different. We are hand makers, leather specialists, a small business of 3 makers - all apprentice trained in our Devon workshop. Our roots are in traditional equestrian leatherwork and our techniques and hand tools are the same as those used by saddlers and bridlemakers for generations.

The Italian full grain bark tanned leather is crafted in Florence by artisan tanners. At this family owned tannery they still practice the ancient method of tanning with bark from mimosa and chestnut trees rather than chemicals to slowly transform the hides into leather. The slow process of bark tanning yields a leather with a smell and patina reminiscent of a time past.

The Devon oak bark tanned hides are sourced from a tannery local to our workshop. Oak Bark Tanned Leather has a long tradition in this country which modern industry has left far behind. There is, however, one tannery left nestling in the Devon hills powered by a waterwheel producing the very best bridle and harness leather using oak bark from the Lake District. Oak bark contains the necessary tannins to transform Devon cowhides into leather. Just 3 things, oak bark, Devon river water and time produce a very special leather that is prized throughout the world.

Natural leather will be kept in good supple condition and last longer if it is treated from time to time with a good quality Hide Food and dressed with a liquid wax. Polish with a horsehair brush.