The Department of Small Works

Plenty of readers contact me about getting into working with leather. I try to talk most of the people out of it, as it is a really expensive hobby, unless you have some ambitions about doing more than just one belt. But I totally understand the fascination, as it was that fascination, that got me started and that fascination, that keeps me going despite all the failures and let-downs, that I still experience.

A reader contacted me some time ago wanting help with shoemaking. He wanted to make shoes for himself. To me that sounded crazy, and to be honest it still does. However the guy comes across as being really set on the idea, and when you have that feeling, he might just be able to accomplish something.

This was a really long intro for something, that isn't really directly related to, what this post is really about. The post is about a project called "The Department of Small Works", which a friend of mine led me to some time ago.

This project was a result of a long, long bike ride around the British Isles, where Nick Hand depicted and interviewed some of the last real makers of a lot of different things like shoes, hats, bikes etc.
The webpage doesn't look like much, but if there's one thing to be learned, it must be, that it doesn't matter much, when the book looks pretty damn good.

If I can connect the intro with this, then I would like to say; HC this is for you - Bespoke shoemaker Deborah Carré of Carreducker.

READ MORE - The Department of Small Works

The Gentry Man - The Book

I can't exactly remember, when or how I cam across Gentry Magazine, but I think it was through some Japanese designer. For some time I was thinking about becoming a collector of it. Mostly due to the fact, that the magazine was short lived and only 22 editions were made, but I never really got the collection started and only purchased one edition, which was in poor condition and it got lost while moving at some point. But it was without a doubt a great magazine.

Gentry Magazine was aimed at a upscale market and it covered subjects like fine dining, art, graphic design, history and of course fashion or rather style. It was a quarterly magazine and came with a pricetag of $2 each - making it $8 a year, which was quite a hefty price considering, that it only existed in the 50s and never made it into the 60s. What made the magazine stand out was probably the way the magazine was put together. No expenses were saved using first grade paper, embossing, fold out pages and of course the use of fabric swatches.

The reason for me covering the history of Gentry Magazine is that a book titled "The Gentry Man: A Guide for the Civilized Male" featuring best of Gentry Magazine has just been released in the US and will soon be released in the UK and EU. I've pre-ordered mine through Amazon and it was very reasonably priced, so I suggest, that you all order the book and then you can start collecting the magazines one by one afterwards. That's what I'm planning on doing.

READ MORE - The Gentry Man - The Book