Sometimes a new customer will contact me with concern over how to look after vegetable tanned leather. The most common question is: I’ve got a scratch on the leather.. what should do?!

Well, surface scratches are very easy to rub away on vegetable tanned leather. Technically, all it takes is gently massaging the displaced oil back into the scratched area with your thumb. A quick rub with a soft cloth (a hand in a thick wool sock will do) for larger areas or, if the leather has got a little dry, a good polish with a water-based cleanser …

but the thing about vegetable tanned leather is largely to use it and let it develop it’s own character. This takes a little hurdle of faith, the time between a bag being “box fresh” and becoming part of who you are. Give it that time and, before you know it,  the bag will start to get a very personal patina.  After a couple of months, and some of those loving polishes, and it will start to have its very own ‘glow’.

(You know sometimes you see someone with an old leather item that you can tell they have used for years, maybe decades -it may even once have been their dad’s –  and yet it looks fantastic. You know you can’t buy that personality… that’s vegetable tanned leather.)

The owner of this Overnight Cabin Bag is one such customer, asking within a week how to keep his bag mark-free. As you can see, a couple of months later and he, or rather his beautiful daughter, is really taking the leap of faith and “loving and living” this bag!

(thank you, Simon, for the very special photo… but keep an eye open… I can see that bag disappearing into her wardrobe before you know it!)

The FT chose our Amelia (packed with pockets and lots of room while remaining elegant and sleek) and our Clem Clutch, for carrying your essentials on hand in the office, out at lunch, or at the check in desk.

As you can see from my well-used bags below, the Clutch is designed to fit perfectly in the Amelia’s central pocket, while leaving loads of space for a laptop, a pair of heels, and your other daily essentials. (I find it a particularly useful combination when traveling).

For a limited period, we’re offering £100 off when you buy the two together…. select 2 bags in the colours you want, then the £100 will be deducted on the checkout page.

Me hand-stitching with two needles, linen thread and veg-tanned leather…

… and not forgetting G, helping me out here with a men’s attache design…

I’ve just had another ‘fix’ at Val and Neil’s leather workshops up the road in Tetbury.

I’ve been working on some bag designs to go into my SS08 collection and, with the factory so busy making the new Autumn collection, I’m finding it more timely to hand-make these samples myself.

And so incredibly rewarding…
Val and Neil were very kind about my stitching, which is apparently much improved since I first took up the needles (you use two simultaneously) a couple of years ago. They’ll make a master-craftswoman of me yet.

And I’ve got muscles in my hands I never knew I had… you didn’t think those popping veins were anything to do with age, did you?

Next week I’m off to Seville and Florence to review what’s in work there and make final changes.

I love this time of year!

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A while ago I mentioned a visitor who I later found out was an artist living in Hawaii. We keep in touch every once in a while, and she updates me on the building of their dream home amongst acres of steamy tropical forest.

Well, I’ve recently had another lovely visitor on the diary.

Maryam dropped by and left some very nice comments, and (you know me) I had to take a look at her site.
And would you believe it? Maryam is also building her dream home. This time in acres of olive groves, just outside Marrakesh.
It all looks amazing. I’m not surprised she has been nominated for a best blogger award either, and asked by The Guardian to write an article on the Best of Marrakesh in an upcoming guide. Her blog is a fascinating and fun read. Even better, she is also building a guest house to rent…just look at the plans!

By the by, instead of asking Vogue and GQ and other lovely Conde Nast publications for some nice write ups, I wonder if I should instead be targeting builder’s supplies magazines – The Tropical Tiler’s Telegraph, and Marrakesh Masons Monthly – instead? I have a sneaky feeling that is what is really piled up on your bedside tables, dear readers?

Just as well, then, that G had booked us both onto a leather course sometime back in September. Of course, he knew I couldn’t resist. (quite canny, really).
As a result, we’ve just come back from a superb break. Although not quite the same as a week drinking gluvine in the Alps (sorry, G), it was at just the right time of year, when you’re feeling a bit jaded and worn down.

I absolutely love the courses that Val Michael and Neil McGregor hold in their workshop in Tetbury.
Val and Michael are the most inspiring leather craftspeople I’ve met in my 18 years in the leather industry.

As well as their courses, they have a healthy business making hand-stitched designs of their own, as well as commissions for rock-stars and royalty, restoring antiques, and providing knowledge and expertise to museums and shows. Modest to their roots, they don’t mention any of this on their website.

Their workshop is bliss. Not a machine -or computer, for that matter- in sight. Everything is hand-stitched and crafted. Peace. Calm. And lashings of tea and cake just when you need it.
As well as an education for the novice it is also a reminder for the experienced designer what leather, and honest, no-fuss quality, is all about. I came away inspired and full of renewed love for what I do (oh, and G, of course!)

I quite often get emailed from people wanting to know how to become a handbag designer, what’s the best fashion degree etc. My advice would be to get onto one of Val and Michael’s courses before you do anything else. You will learn more about leather, how things are made, and the endless possibilities that come not just from creative thought, but from the marriage of that with working with your hands. And for any die-hard designer like myself, it’s a wonderful tonic to start the new year. Plop,plop, fizz!

I’m getting quite a few questions about what colour to buy… people love the Rhubarb and Ginger colours, but are a bit new to goat skin and how it will wear.

To get an idea of how it looks with use, this is my Villa Tote and Extrovert’s Card Case, my original samples, which I’ve been using for the last seven months.

Goat is an incredibly hardwearing leather, whilst also being very lightweight to carry and beautifully soft. Even when stuffed to the brim, the handles are super-soft and comfortable.

It’s very rare to get a bag this size in goat, however, because the tannery has to find skins that are big enough and, because I also like the natural character of the leather to shine through, they also have to be really good quality (no spray-painted finishes here)…

A challenge but, I think, worth it. This style is made from two whole hides. The factory thought I was mad… I must admit, I’m not normally decadent but, hey, every once in a while…!

Sorry there hasn’t been a post for a while…

I won’t say things have got out of hand, but suddenly everyone seems to have realised it’s Christmas next weekend. We’re all hands on deck here at Bown wrapping and ribboning and boxing and couriering to get everything delivered in a timely fashion. We’re still taking orders with free 24-hour delivery and returns (UK)…
If you’re looking for other ideas, here’s a few of my online favourites:

REN skincare for beauties with high standards.
Urchin babies/toddlers/kids…a state of Nirvana, if only brief, is a joy to behold.
iTunes Gift Card for stroppy teenagers and Bloomsbury for disenchanted youth.
Beer Ventures and Waitrose Wines to loosen up the in-laws.
Mr and Mrs Smith for parents with bags under their eyes.
Barker and Ball for friends with pooches. Or pooches who are friends…

although I’m more of a cat person, and somehow a piece of kitchen roll on a length of string is enough…

What I had previously failed to notice (after 20 years living around the corner) was the fact that the laundrette was originally a Georgian butcher’s shop. When you look up at the covered area outside -which you do when with an observant photographer- there are the most amazing meat hooks, stucco and fanlights…

If you’re visiting Bath, and have enough puff left to stagger round the back of the Royal Crescent, you’ll find it tucked away among the St. James Street shops. A great place to have a relaxing refreshment at Mangia Bene (the snazzy local deli) or get something stronger at the nearby Marlborough Tavern.

*For those living outside our fair isles, “take a butcher’s hook” is the Cockney Rhyming Slang for ‘take a look’.