NZ Leather Craft began from a simple need to create. One day in my shed, looking for a new project, I came across my late father's old leather kit. I opened it up, started experimenting, and quickly discovered how much I enjoyed working with leather: the process, the texture, and the sense of making something that lasts.
Leather has always been part of my life. I grew up around horses and farming, so the smell of a saddlery is a familiar one. But there is a difference between being around leather and putting an awl through it yourself, and that first crooked line of stitching hooked me completely.
Friends encouraged me to share my work, and after a knife-making course at Kōwhai Forge I had my first real opportunity; the team there liked what I was doing, and we began developing products together for their blacksmithing students. Everything on this site grew from there.