Dennis Thank you. I'm Dennis Wolk creator journey bags. I believe every journey needs a bag and I'll be happy to make it for you. I've been doing this for about well, since 2010 and I just really love leather. I love the texture, the grain, the color, and I wanted to talk a little bit about my design process.
To give you an idea of how I create what I make. So often I'll get a high leather in and I like to really study it in a way. It kind of tells me what it wants to be. I know that may sound a little odd, but this is a, this is a piece like cut the other day. It's a very high grain Buffalo. And what I like about it is the natural edges of the of the leather itself.
So I have particular shapes that I use and rectangle squares some I've actually done some half, half moon bags by accident. And they, they came out in a very interesting way. So I'll take the characteristics of the leather. And the way this came, it actually came to me with these holes in it. And I try to utilize everything that I get.
So I'm not exactly sure, but I may decide to take another type of leather to make this pop and actually use it. I also, I just. A couple of months ago, I had an opportunity to pick up this gorgeous turquoise alligator. And it's, rather unique. I've never seen this color since I've been making bags and I just had to have it.
So with this I could also do the same thing and just. Make it pop. I've got this gorgeous white alligator, same, same type of thing. And often I'll set it up at night so that when I come in the morning, the next day I've got somewhat of a clear head and I can get an idea of how I, if it works or not.
One of the bags that I designed. With a green crocodile piece came out really, really interesting. I combined some purple ostrich with it, some black ostrich an outside pocket. This is like a cognac Buffalo, two tone with a cowhide on the sides for the gusset. And laced, the crocodile on the back.
So what's really important to me is besides the quality of the bag is the function of it. So I carry a bag myself and I actually liked this so much that I decided to make one for myself. It's a little bit larger. It has the green crocodile. Same as, as the one I just showed you with the turquoise alligator, the black ostrich, the cognac ostrich this particular piece of Buffalo in the front, which is a pocket didn't quite make it across.
So I decided to use cutouts from another bag and make it work. And so within the bag, just to give you an idea is I've got an iPad. I've got my phone. I just started making checkbook covers and passport. Never know when you're going to have to get out of town. And the other thing that I like to do is have what I call is a key finder. I always attach my Keys to this when I'm done using them, I've gone back in there. I can always access them quickly.
So lost my train of thought, but. The other thing that I like to do is I custom fit the bag to whoever's going to buy it whether it be cross-body or over the shoulder. And all my bags come with a lifetime warranty.
My lifetime, as long as I'm alive, I'll be happy to take care of any issue you may have with them. And each bag is. Is individually custom fit to the customer?
Female Yes. Lovely. Dennis, is there another that you'd like to show us from the back wall or anything that you'd like to bring up front?
Dennis Yeah, actually this bag was made for a sustainable runway show that my wife Joanne was involved with.
And my challenge was to find a way. To incorporate sustainability into my bags. All my leather is, is ethically sourced and all of this leather was from other bags that I made cutouts, which I sew them all together as sort of like a fabric and then decided how I was going to make it, make it work into a bag.
So I got quite a lot going on here, but this is. I don't want it. It's other pieces. People might say they're scraps, but there are other pieces of leather. And this is called fish scaling. I just learned about that.
Female When did you learn to make leather? What inspired you to dive in?
Dennis Well, necessity is the mother of invention.
So I was actually, when I graduated college, I took a trip up to Martha's vineyard with some friends. And I needed a job. And one of the places that was hiring was a leather shop that needed a assistant. And they were willing to train me and that's where I got exposure to that.
Female Oh, amazing. Our journeys often just take us where we are meant to be. So did you know at that moment that you were going to like, do you know. You were getting to be a leather artist?
Not at all. In fact so I was 21 when when that happened a few years ago and I didn't really play with leather until my wife needed a bag, which was quite a few years later and she asked me to make it for her.
Female That is a wonderful story. Thank you so much
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