Sarah and Wilder Leather- Celebrating her second season on Maple Lane

 

Sarah was kind enough to write out her amazing answers to our questions 

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SETTING UP:

i'm delighted to be in my second season selling handmade leather goods at Mower's Flea Market in Woodstock. last year i was WILDSTOCK LEATHER, and this year, midseason, i've decided to rebrand my leather endeavor as WILDER LEATHER. while WILDSTOCK was a great mashup of where I live/work with what I'm about, WILDER, my last name, feels spot-on essential given what i'm doing with the medium – though i'll always feel like a WILDSTOCK'er at heart.

 A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU MAKE:

as WILDER LEATHER, i handcraft leather goods with gusto in my little studio-shed in Woodstock (NY.) my leather practice is part cacophonic vortex, part diagonal dot connectings, part nitty gritty. i began with bracelets, my first leather love, and have since branched out, in order of manifestation, to pouches, wallets, bags, beltbags, belt/bag hybrids, belts, skillet handle covers (an unexpected way to utilize scraps!), and most recently lightweight earrings ¬– all with vegetable tanned leather. ultimately, i'd like to get into harnesses with pocket/pouches, and more varieties of jewelry. all styles i create get named after the first person to buy the thing, though a few are named after what they seem to invoke. to date i've got: the brooke, the johanna, the jan, the duane, the autumn, the lindsey, the amy, the sarah, the leo, the leaf, the mayfly, the ustya and countless unnamable (but not ungraspable) one-offs. i invite folks to stop by my booth during the season, or visit me on instagram.com/wilder.leather, to learn more.

 WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING:

i love and appreciate that i get to work in a medium that continually challenges and excites, and one in which i constantly/compulsively experiment with shapes, colors, lines, textures, hardware, forms, finishes, and functionality, all through the conduit of leather. i require stimulation and a sense of purpose/urgency to move through space and time. miraculously, what i'm doing with WILDER LEATHER does this for me; my work expresses a side, or many sides, perhaps, that i'm happy to share. i dig that WILDER LEATHER is one of my most valued, sanguine creative launch pads, melding my imaginative, instinctual, intuitive, and practical intelligences in novel ways. as Anne Carson says, and i'm fond of repeating: "make a small mark, nothing sublime." this sentiment fuels my passion to 'make.' as each amalgamation of 'small marks' takes shape to form a functional object, from hulking sides of cowhide, no less, i feel a sense of grateful satisfaction in being able to craft beautiful, practical, lasting objects.

 i must add that i sincerely appreciate being able to do what i do, and to offer what i can, through the vibrant, neighborly marketplace of Mower's Flea Market. not only is the Flea a brilliant/perfect/wonderful platform for my work, but it's a field (literally) ripe with cross-pollination. i buy beautiful beads, leather, and hardware from other vendors; i get fresh ideas from other vendors and passersby, directly and indirectly; and i really listen when someone asks "can you make (X), but with (Y)?" and then, if it's a custom or i just decide to go with it, i'm likely off in a new direction(s), or, at the very least, i get to create with a fresh slant. as much as anything, it is this rich engagement that propels WILDER LEATHER endlessly forward, endlessly rocking.

instagram.com/wilder.leather

wilderleather18@gmail.com