TEXT BY G!NN!E / PHOTOS ELOI SCARVA
Stepping into Leather Angel, the earthy scent of leather hits you immediately. Stacks of cowhide from Italy and lambskin from France fill every corner, while walls display bags and keychains in various shapes – paper cranes, owls, and rainbow-colored candies.
Owner KK Chen is hunched over her workbench, carefully trimming a piece of tobacco-brown waxed leather with a skiving knife. Her journey with leather started with just a pair of scissors in her childhood.
“As a kid, I loved taking apart old clothes to make new things,” she recalls.
Years later, she began working in retail, but the daily grind wore her down.
“Chasing sales targets every day was soul-draining.” Then the pandemic forced the world to stop and this opened up an opportunity for KK to return to her passion.
“I decided to pick up my craft books and bought my first vegetable-tanned leather to make a wallet. I just wanted an escape. I never thought that first cut would change my life,” she says.
The struggles of self-learning helped her to hone her skills and patience, but she admits that she can be a bit “obsessive” – she once spent two months redoing a white leather box just because of a 1mm misalignment.
“There are no shortcuts in handicrafts,” she says, pointing at piles of scrap leather. “Time is your best teacher.”
After posting her works online, orders began to unexpectedly come in. When a client told her ‘Your designs stand out with better details than mass produced items’ KK decided to rent a small space above a café to become a real leather artisan in 2021.
Customization is the key service at KK’s studio. Clients bring to her different personal stories – recreating briefcases, gifting their lovers, or embossing kids’ names on products.
“I love turning abstract ideas into real designs,” she explains.
While many shoppers want things done quickly, KK has intentionally moved in the other direction, upgrading her shop last year to focus more on customization. Even simple cardholders get custom patterns.
“Rushing can ruin the feel of the leather,” she insists. “That’s disrespectful to the material. Each piece needs a ‘massage’ first, like leather spa treatment,” she demonstrates by smoothing a stubborn hide.
KK also hosts DIY workshops that have become very popular, and they too focus on the art of being patient. Beginners usually need to spend four hours stitching a leather product, and KK helps them practise cutting on scrap leather until the edges are perfectly straight.
“People expect instant results nowadays, but handicrafts, on the contrary, force you to slow down,” KK observes. “Many customers say they actually forget about their phones and deadlines while focusing on the handicraft. That’s the magic of it – it’s not about perfection, but accepting the messy learning process.”
Next to KK’s workbench stands a guzheng zither – her “inspiration station”. The punk-dressed artisan with chunky silver necklaces surprises with her graceful zither skills.
“People say I’m full of contrasts,” she smiles, brushing her short hair. “Just like leather – rough and delicate can coexist.”
As we chat, she demonstrates edge-dyeing techniques that she recently learned in Shanghai – layering pigments on lambskin edges and polishing them until glossy.
“Machines can finish edges in seconds, but handdyeing is like Chinese ink painting – you need to wait for each layer to dry,” she explains. “The real challenge isn’t about the skill, but the willingness to spend two hours on one thing.”
This “go slow philosophy” affects her material choices too. She loves Italian leather that “ages like old friends”, and French lambskin that needs extra care. “It’s soft as skin but requires twice the patience,” she says.
Looking around KK’s shop, it’s clear that there are no viral hit products, yet customers linger there, taking in the beauty and originality of her craftmanship. She takes out a bag she uses everyday – a three-year-old black leather bag with a well-loved glow around its worn edges.
“These aren’t flaws,” she says. “They’re memories that grow with me.”
In this world of instant satisfaction, real luxury isn’t flawlessness, but those inexact time-consuming imperfections resulting from real human endeavour.
