Hi, I'm Luke — the craftsman behind LW Leatherworking.

I'm a husband, father of two, Lab Manager, and Retained Firefighter. And now, somehow, a leatherworker too.

Life doesn't leave much room for new obsessions — but this one found me anyway. I've been learning the craft for just under a year, and I can already tell it's the kind of pursuit that doesn't let go. The more I learn, the more I appreciate what goes into a truly quality piece. Every skived edge, every pulled stitch, every burnished corner — details that most people will never notice, but that make all the difference between something that lasts a lifetime and something that doesn't make it through the year.

It started with my grandfather's wallet. He'd carried it for over twenty years — worn at the corners, darkened with use, alive with the kind of patina that only time and honest living can produce. It still smelled like fresh leather the day it was retired. That wallet was built properly, and it showed. In a world of fast fashion and throwaway goods, that kind of quality had become rare. I wanted to understand how to make it again.

So I cleared a corner of my shed and started learning. That corner became a workshop. The workshop became a practice. And somewhere between the late nights, the failed stitches, and the gradual improvement, it became something I genuinely love.

Every piece I make is cut, stitched, and finished by hand — by me, in my workshop. Full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather. Saddle-stitched by hand using techniques that have outlasted every machine-sewn shortcut. No factories. No outsourcing. Just the work.

I'm still learning. Still refining. Still committed to mastering a craft that has endured for centuries — because some things are worth doing properly.

If you'd like to follow the journey, you're very welcome here.

— Luke