Based in the heart of the Highlands of Scotland, Croft Leather creates unique, hand crafted leather goods. inspired by the hides themselves as each one is unique and holds its own imperfections. This enables me to turn the raw material into something functional and beautiful. Each piece is carefully hand stitched , blending traditional skills with modern style.
My journey with leather started many years ago when I worked for a small company before I had a family. The company made dog training equipment for the MOD and the police, they also made the harnesses for Guide Dogs for the Blind. I worked in the office ordering leather and the hardware from suppliers in Walsall, and liaised with the outworkers who would hand stitch the leather leads, man-work arms, harnesses etc. I then started travel to Walsall to choose the leather from one of the tanneries and collect the fittings and the finished work the out workers had done. They would show me how they stitched the items, I was really interested but never had a go at doing it myself. Not until 30 years later when my daughter and her partner had memorable birthdays and I wanted to make them something special. I have always liked leather journals and so has my daughters partner, so I decided to make one for him as a surprise, I then made a weekend bag for my daughter and that’s how I got into making things from leather. A friend saw a bag I made for myself and asked me to make one for her. Then another friend said I should do farmers markets with the bags and journals I had made. It took a while for me to agree and once I did things have gone from strength to strength
