Our leather workshop & photography studio

 ...no magic happens here. This is where all the work happens: a one room workshop in a run down house, at the edges of a small town in the rainiest corner of England (without being one bit dramatic here). 

For those who don't know me well, I'm Carmina, a Romanian leather artisan, photographer & dogs hoarder that runs a leather goods store from her home in Cumbria.

Pictured: Carmina, Ava (brown) & Masha (B&W)

It's been a year since my husband Ben and I bought this run down house in a little town on the N/W coast of England & once again, moved to some place we knew little to nothing about.

If you've been following us on Instagram for a while, you'll know we live in an ex-council house that we are working on renovating, whilst I'm working full time for my leathercraft business and try to branch out as a travel & lifestyle photographer. 

To say it's been an intense year it would be a horrible understatement, but through the dust and rubble of 12 laborious months we can glimpse a bit of hope: we've got some walls without cracks in them and floors you can walk on without steel-toe boots!

I'm being a bit dramatic, but after a year of having to work among piles of plasterboard, paint tins, copper pipes and around half million different types of drill bits, having a room with clean, straight walls & floors seems like an undeserved luxury. 

 We've completed the major works in the workshop a few weeks ago, and my productivity levels have been soaring since. 

This stool was rescued from a pub dating back to the 17th century in Calder Bridge. The owners couldn't comment on the age of it, but it was covered in grime and cracked leather so it must have been ancient

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For a brief period we had a sofa here, but the space was too crowded so this is now the place I use to take product photos, since these windows are my preferred source of light

Back to the desk, this is where finishing touches take place; mostly sewing

& edge polishing, or design work & photography. 

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