A lockdown leather entrepreneur with no experience in leather making? Meet David Mateus and his lockdown project Madstuffs.co.uk that is well on its way to having some Real Leather cred!
Having recently chatted with friend and hospitality worker David Mateus, I was amazed to hear of his new leather goods business Madstuffs—born in lock down after watching a leather making tutorial that appeared on his YouTube feed. Keen to take on a new creative challenge, with leather scraps from an old Halloween costume and tools from his woodworking (home) workshop, he completed a simple brown, white hand-stitched wallet – one for himself, another two for friends.
With leather left over and in need of an everyday bag, David took to Adobe Illustrator, repurposing his woodworking skills for the design and pattern creation of a duffle bag in panels of brown, tan and red—with a sport lux-vintage appeal, the finished piece has some serious street trend. A pair of leather goggles to wear when woodworking was his next project, the result is beyond cool; they could be easily mistaken for home ware or art. Further inspiration from the internet, saw a use for his final scraps of leather—the delicate replica of Plague Doctor key chains, beautifully hand crafted, stitched and formed.
With improved skills, David bought Walpier Buttero dyed leather to produce a number of higher quality, very elegant hand stitched wallets; the brown-orange, brown-blue colour options quickly attracting interest and comments via Facebook for David to produce more products for purchase.
Developing branding and social media, wallet sales continued and enabled his purchase of a small stock of natural vegetable tanned Italian leather, which he hand dyes himself. Following this came completion of two much larger projects—a chic brown purse (purchased by an upstairs neighbour as a gift for her mother) and an incredibly smart, hand stitched brown leather and black strap suitcase—one which I would love to own myself!
David’s impressive, self-taught leather making skills, have him producing leather goods of an extremely high, bespoke handmade quality in both design and finish. With further designs of sunglass cases, pouches, new styles of wallets and purses—a website and online store nearing launch, this small lockdown challenge serves as inspiration, and to David, a heralding achievement of commitment, skill and the unlocking of newfound potential!
Madstuffs.co.uk brand new website will be launching very soon! In the meantime if you want to own one of David’s beautiful bespoke leather pieces or to have him design a leather accessory to your own specifications, you can direct message @MaDstuffs.co.uk on Instagram and be sure to follow the progress of his new pieces! Bravo David on my leather love for Madstuffs!
Xx Mike
Josslyn Shi from California College of Art has been crowned Overall Winner of the Real Leather. Stay Different. International Student Design Competition at a glittering final event held at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Nicola Davies has curated some of the most talented London-based sneaker customisers in the game.
Meet Elisa Castiglioni first place leather goods winner in this years Italy 2020/21 Student Design Competition.
Longevity is leather’s strong suit. The beauty is that it can be repaired, restored, enjoyed for a lifetime, and passed down through the generations. Despite its durability, though, people still throw their leather items away.
In this month's Street Seen, meet Yai, a musician and artist from South London! Check out those leather pants...!
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Stay different with our monthly roundup, which includes the latest on leather fashion and sustainable features, competition news and more.
