Marcus Hale Founder & Master Maker
Trained in boot repair, obsessed with restoration. Marcus handles bespoke commissions and every repair that walks through the door — the older and sadder, the better.
Cut, stitched and burnished by hand
Three generations at the same workbench
Tanglewood Leather Co began in 2015 with a secondhand splitter, a borrowed awl, and a stubborn belief that things should be built to be repaired — not replaced.
From a garage bench to Tannery Row
Marcus Hale spent his twenties resoling boots and patching motorcycle jackets out of a single-car garage. Word travelled the way it always does with good repair work — one fixed briefcase at a time — until the garage gave way to our current workshop on Tannery Row.
June Park joined in 2018, bringing pattern-making training and a designer's eye for the details customers touch every day: the radius of a card slot, the weight of a buckle, the exact shade of edge paint. Together we make every piece start to finish — no production line, no outsourcing, no shortcuts hidden inside.
Hides we would sign our name to
We buy full-grain, vegetable-tanned sides from two Gold-rated tanneries and inspect every hide under raking light before it earns a place on the cutting table. If a panel has loose grain or a brand mark in the wrong place, it becomes a key fob — never a wallet.
Thread is braided polyester at 0.8 mm, edges are bevelled, dyed and burnished with beeswax, and hardware is solid brass or stainless. Nothing plated, nothing that peels.
Meet the makers
Two artisans, forty years of combined bench time, and strong opinions about edge paint.
June Park Designer & Stitching Lead
June drafts every pattern in the shop and teaches all four workshop courses. Her card slots fit on the first try — ask any graduate.
How it works
Whether it is a repair, a class seat or a bespoke tote, every job follows the same honest path.
Talk to a maker
Bring the piece in, send photos, or book a consult. A real artisan — not a form letter — tells you what is possible and what it costs.
Watch it take shape
Repairs are photographed on arrival; commissions get pattern proofs and leather swatches before a single cut is made.
Carry it for decades
Every piece leaves conditioned, with care instructions and a lifetime repair promise from the bench that made it.
What we stand by
Lifetime repairs
Loose stitching, worn edges, tired snaps — if we made it, we fix it free, forever.
Repair before replace
We will talk you out of a new wallet if your old one can be saved. The planet notices.
Taught, not hidden
Our classes share every technique we use on paying commissions — no secret sauce.
Come watch leather being made
The kettle is on Tuesday to Saturday, 9 to 5. Walk-ins welcome; commissions by appointment.