Traditional Leather-working Tools

HERITAGE

Belgrave Crescent is the intermingling of design, function, exceptional craftsmanship, and beautiful materials.  We are a young, modern company with a deep admiration and appreciation for the care and craftsmanship of the things of yesterday — ornate opera houses and romantic cobblestone streets — and are obsessed with creating and hand-selecting products that withstand trends and the test of time.

CRAFT | Made in the Heart of England

Our products are handcrafted in West Midlands, a region with a rich history in leather craft and production dating back to the 1800’s and deeply rooted in the equestrian trade.

By the start of the 20th century, this region accounted for nearly one-third of all Britain’s saddle and harness makers.  The invention of the combustion engine resulted in the slow decline in the leather trade, and a shift to the production of light leather goods such as luggage, wallets, and writing cases.  In the 1960’s, increasing competition from overseas resulted in the surviving companies’ shift to the luxury market.

Today, the region is part of the resurgence of a demand for high-end British-made leather goods, and we are privileged to play a part in keeping this rich heritage and tradition alive.

Luxury is in each detail.

— Hubert de Givenchy

Belgrave Crescent | The Kensington Satchel

MATERIALS | leather

We use two types of leather in our satchels & tablet sleeves—The Kensington and The Roxburgh are made of traditional equestrian English bridle, and The Balmoral and Lanarkshire are Italian, produced from French hides.

For our Kensington, we have sourced leather from tanners, J&E Sedgwick, who produce some of the finest bridle leather in the world, and is principally used in luxury leather goods.

The process of producing English bridle leather at J&E Sedgwick has remained relatively unchanged since the early 1900’s.

The production of J&E Sedgwick bridle leather, a vegetable tanned leather, is a very labour-intensive process.  Each hide is hand-finished by a leather currier, an expert who hand-sets the leather to ensure the grain is smooth.

After the leather is curried, it is hand-stained, and then applied with natural fats, oils and waxes, which give the leather its luxurious finish.

The currying of leather is a traditional and unique skill rarely seen in the production of any other leather.  For this reason, the company maintains an active recruitment and training programme for new apprentices.

J&E Sedgwick leathers are unmistakable, beautiful, rich in colour and made to last—quintessentially British.

Belgrave Crescent | Brass Hardware from France

MATERIALS | hardware

Our satchels feature solid brass hardware sourced from one of the oldest saddlery houses in France. Established in the 1800’s, it produced mainly military equipment during the first World War, moving to tack, or equestrian pieces for leather, which has been its primary focus since the 1980’s. Four generations of the same family have been running this house for over one hundred years. Some of the finest fashion luxury houses in the world still source their fittings from here.  Their work, all handmade and hand-polished for each order, is exemplary and has won many awards.  It is this work that we bring to you today. 

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

Map of England

* Field Notes:

  1. Vegetable tanned leather: at Belgrave Crescent, we choose to work with vegetable tanned leathers for two reasons—first, it is environmentally friendly in that the process of dying the leather is a natural one, involving the use of tannins from bark, (such as from chestnut and mimosa trees), giving our leathers their rich colours

  2. Vegetable tanning is a classical and traditional method of creating leather that yields the best quality

Belgrave Crescent | The Balmoral in Chestnut

Our Dakota Tuscan leather, used in The Balmoral satchels, is sourced in Brittany, France, and then tanned in Tuscany, near Pisa.  Tuscany has a reputation for producing some of the finest leather in the world, with a process dating back to the Renaissance.  This leather is vegetable tanned, in which the process of tanning creates an aniline leather—that is—a beautiful natural-looking leather with a visible grain.

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