Category: Made In C-VILLE

There’s just something about leather: It’s at once rugged and polished. And always cool. Plus, it’s a material that’s easy to source in our area, thanks to local saddle shops and nearby tanneries. Here are three hand-crafters making your next favorite accessory.

Stamp of approval

Siberia native Daniel Foytik became fascinated with leather as a kid, when he’d make his own toys from leather found in his grandfather’s saddlery. Today, his work still has a playful touch—patterns hand-stamped on dyed leather flasks, sunglasses cases, and iPhone covers—but with a high-end polish, sophistication, and confidence. Says Foytik, “There is nothing that we can’t make.”

RSVP Handcrafted foytik.com

No trouble here

Known best for his furniture pulls—loops of leather that give drawers and cabinets an especially modern-rustic touch—Aaron Baker has been branching out of late. “I’m working on a line of small furniture, a line of toy kits, and laced dog products,” says the Pratt Institute grad. “I think with my art and sculpture background I can manipulate the leather well in 3-D forms. I enjoy molding the leather and pushing to its limits to see what I can make it do.” Last year, he worked on a line of leather slug toys with his two sons, which they launched on Kickstarter.

Trouble & Trace troubleandtrace.com

Something from nothing

If John Coles had to name the thing that he feels sets him apart from other leather workers, it’s his hand-stitching. “Even though it is time-consuming,” Coles says, “it’s my favorite part of the leather-working process.” Having thrown “tens of thousands” of stitches since the first time he experimented with leather work five years ago, Coles’ line of leather rucksacks, duffels, totes, and wallets is built to last, from leather sourced in Pennsylvania, Maine, and down the road in Richmond.

Brother John Leather brotherjohnleather.com

One night when artist Laurel Smith was sleeping, her mind projected her future onto the backs of her eyes. She dreamt up a whirring dremel tool, a jewelry-making instrument then somewhat unfamiliar to her, and awoke with a newfound sense of purpose. A D.C.-based event planner in her 20s at the time, Smith sensed she was on the cusp of a major career breakthrough.

Smith is a Charlottesvillian through and through, from the maternity wing of Martha Jefferson hospital to the halls of Albemarle High School. She graduated from James Madison University with a degree in studio art, then relocated briefly to Washington, D.C., and Hoboken, New Jersey, before returning home.

Just as Smith cannot divorce her hometown from her story, art is integral to her existence. Creating has always pointed her toward comfort and confidence—a happy mashup of emotions she first remembers experiencing as a young Spectrum summer camper at Tandem Friends School. In fact, this is where her fascination with calligraphy first sprouted.

Decades later, Smith is the frontwoman of a celebrated, self-launched jewelry brand, “laurel denise,” which features bracelets incorporating inspirational messages engraved in beautiful calligraphy. She leads a fully female staff—including her full-time assistant, Nancy Cronauer, and a map-scattered crew of bracelet makers (aka “Mama Elves”)—in the quest toward artistic excellence. Smith is two women in one: She jokes that she’s “40 percent artist and 60 percent business.” Her online shop offers a sweeping array of accessories and home goods, including options for product customization, and her pieces put multiple mediums into conversation, including leather, metal, and glass.

A mother of two, Smith cites “time” as the most pressing part of this gig. Between caring for and carting around her kids, she hunches over worktables in her home, where her makeshift studio is based. Although her team attends two large wholesale events in New York City each year, most of her sales are shipped directly from her home address. These large-scale trade shows, while excellent opportunities to showcase new work and make human connections with customers, take a toll timewise and financially. “My lights alone cost $2k to rent,” Smith says. “I find that I reach more people through the internet.”

Smith sees her career as a calling to serve others. Her handwritten messages adorn the wrists of assault survivors (“Be you bravely”), breast cancer battlers (“She walks in beauty”), mothers enduring miscarriages (“Dwell in hope”), missionaries (“Be strong and courageous”), and general accessory-lovers alike. Although her curling calligraphy and dainty bracelets may be geared more toward women than men, she points to the drip-down effect of her art’s influence: The messaging behind it all unfurls like a song, and everyone will want to sing along.

“Even if [my jewelry] is just empowering women, all the women I know are empowering everybody else around them. We’re the doers. We lift up our husbands. We help shape our kids,” Laurel says. “It trickles down to empowering people in general.”

With her delicate calligraphied bracelets, jewelry-maker Laurel Denise taps into the bigger picture.

What’s not to love about a handmade piece of jewelry? Here are five local gems worth wearing.

Direct from nature

As a kid, Rebecca Perea-Kane would play with Fimo clay, sculpting tiny animals with her sister (“we must have made hundreds of them,” she says). No surprise, then, that her line of delicate jewelry celebrates the little things. More specifically, the little things found in nature. Each piece is cast directly from a natural element—lemon seeds, blackberry thorns, skipping stones—through a process of lost-wax casting. “I love how many natural objects look like abstract shapes from a distance,” Perea-Kane says. “On closer inspection you can see so much texture and detail.”

Thicket shopthicket.com

One of a kind

Having collected vintage odds, ends, and doodads since childhood (“I grew up lagging behind my parents in all the antique malls, thrift shops, and junk stores, sometimes states away, following their lead and noticing every little thing”), Jen Deibert amassed quite a collection by the time she started making jewelry. Consequently, each of her pieces is unique, and sourced from wherever she goes. “It’s always been about the hunt for me,” she says. “I don’t think I love anything more than walking into an antique store for the first time and looking for treasure.”

Jen Deibert Jewelry jendeibertjewelry.etsy.com

This one’s for the girls

Amy Bauer had always dabbled in the handmade, finding ways to create jewelry, clothing, and home décor for herself that she couldn’t find in shops. Then, after years of creating jewelry for herself, friends, and her daughters as a hobby, the self-taught designer launched Girls Day Out. “I started off making mothers’ bracelets with mixed stones and sterling silver block letters with children’s names on them,” she says. “One of my most popular designs is still the personalized line of bracelets and necklaces in mixed metals and birthstones from my Heirloom collection.”

Girls Day Out girlsdayout.etsy.com

This beading heart

A pro bead-stringer and pearl-knotter by day, Jann White (aka this writer’s mom) started making her own jewelry to sell on the side 30 years ago. “I’ve had an unnatural obsession with beads since I saw my first tiny glass bead so many years ago,” White says. “I started by beading T-shirts (hey, it was the ’60s), and then started stringing them and buying more and more, even skipping a meal or two so I could afford the more expensive ones.” Her only rule for creating her pieces—which often feature semi-precious stones in bold colors with a statement pendant—is that she doesn’t design anything she wouldn’t wear herself.

Relica Design relicadesign.etsy.com