Tutor Ruth Pullan
A satisfying realisation came soon after a leatherwork course at the Cumbria School of Saddlery in 2011 that leather was the medium Ruth wanted to work in. It's a slow, thoughtful, almost meditative process, quietly stitching away in her workshop, without the hum of machines and the cursing that comes with them. Ruth has always been a frustrated consumer, never finding what she wanted in terms of design and quality of materials in clothes and accessories. Through a pared down palette of materials and processes, Ruth hopes to reflect this attitude, one of individual style, simplicity and quality.
The leather she uses is vegetable tanned leather, traditionally pit-tanned in Britain which she then hand dyes to the shade required, or leave natural to allow the leather to weather to a rich nutty shade. Ruth then conditions the leather with her 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 leather goods and one which stands the test of time. The brass hardware she uses is sand cast in Walsall at the last remaining buckle foundry in the United Kingdom.
Since Ruth launched her business, teaching has become an important part of her work. She has been making and creating all her life and can vouch for the satisfaction which can be found in taking raw materials and through the application of skill and a little perseverance, crafting an object and it's even better if that object can then be used everyday for a specific purpose. It gives you complete control over the materials you are using, allowing you to make ecologically better decisions and introducing long lasting quality to your everyday life. The skills she passes on don't require machines, in fact she made it a requirement of the work she doe that she wouldn't use any materials or tools which she wouldn't be able to make or fix herself if the electrics got cut off or the oil ran out.