About

Ruth Pullan Textiles and Leatherwork was launched in 2012. A satisfying realisation came soon after a leatherwork course at the Cumbria School of Saddlery that leather was the medium I wanted to work in. It's a slow, thoughtful, almost meditative process, quietly stitching away in my workshop, without the hum of machines and the cursing that comes with them. I have always been a frustrated consumer, never finding want I wanted in terms of design and quality of materials in clothes and accessories and I have never been interested in the latest fashion "fads and trends" as the Kinks would say. Through a pared down palette of materials and processes, I hope to reflect this attitude, one of individual style, simplicity and quality.

The leather I use is vegetable tanned leather, traditionally pit-tanned in Britain which I then hand dye to the shade required. I then condition the leather with my own blend of fats and oils to create a beautiful sheen to the leather. The pattern pieces are laid out and cut using a saddler's knife and then stitched by hand using the two needle method using waxed linen thread, a traditional way of manufacturing leathergoods and one which stands the test of time. The brass hardware I use is sand cast in Walsall at the last remaining buckle foundry in the United Kingdom.

This way of working opens up a whole range of possibilities in terms of shaping and structure, things which are impossible to do with a machine and techniques which I hope to explore and experiment with for many years to come.