I’ve been a doctor for twenty-six years, but I have always made things with my hands. For most of my career I have tried to help people feel better. Now I make things for them to keep.

People are usually surprised, and I understand why. But medicine and leatherwork are not so far apart as they seem. Both are done with your hands. Both need care and close attention to detail. And in both, the difference between adequate and excellent is a hundred small decisions. People notice, even when they cannot put their finger on the details.

Most of what you own, you look at occasionally. A bracelet you look at all day. It is there when you are typing, driving, holding a coffee, waiting for someone who is late. Hugging someone. It catches the light. You turn it round your wrist and touch it continuously without thinking about it.

A new bracelet is nice. A bracelet you have worn for a year is yours. Leather softens and improves with age.

So I take my time. I pick every piece of leather and every clasp myself, and I do not make anything I would not wear.

If you own one, you know it was chosen and made by me at my workbench, one piece at a time.

Claudia