Sometimes running your own business and being a wife, mother, daughter, teacher, friend, volunteer and trying to be a good citizen can be EXHAUSTING. I mean really; waking up, drinking coffee, writing to-do lists, handling business paperwork, preparing daughter for school, teaching daughter, working on current project, taking new orders, designing new products, keeping up with contract laborers, phone call, phone call, phone call...Wow, I only made it to noon and I am already exhausted just typing it out; but you get my point. Some days I wonder, "Why in the world do I keep doing this?". It turns out the answer is simple...I love my work! Leather crafting wasn't something that I just looked at one day and said, "Hey! I want to do that!", I was raised around artists of all types. My mother reproduces Native American bead work and has done repairs for the Smithsonian. When I got in trouble when I was a kid guess what I got to do?
Then on the other side of the family was Dale Kendall, my grandfather. He started the Kendall Braiding Company around 1967, when he sold his first leather braided product. Grandpa Dale stuck primarily to cowboy tack: reins, saddles and so on. Then my father, Mick Kendall got involved and while he still did a lot of cowboy tack including chaps and chinks he started branching out a little bit more. Dad started designing and making purses, antler masks and furniture embellishments. He is still well known for his purses even though he is retired. Grandpa Dale passed away in 2005 and in 2006 the company was summarily handed over to me and I started Kendall Custom Braiding & Design. My dad, Mick, retired but still keeps his hand in with designing. The briefcase featured in our store was actually a gift from him to me when I took over the business (and I still use it). I use contract labor locally when I need extra help; I like to keep it in the community if I can.
KCB&D has really been about pushing the boundaries when it comes to leather. We still do some cowboy tack but we have surprised even ourselves with what can REALLY be done with leather. But not just any leather; good-quality leather and yes there is a difference. Most of our work is done completely by hand but recently we incorporated a seamstress so we could create some new products, but we do not mass assemble manufacture and never will. We fill some pretty large orders and still pride ourselves on quality, beauty and functionality. For these days, I think that is pretty darn impressive!
I started introducing home decor, pillows and exploring custom designing. We do hand-braided stair rails: say you have a 30 ft stair rail, we take it home and make either a 6 or 12 strand seamless braid in the clients choice of design, directly on the rail, then the client or us puts it back in their home. We have done leather stair runners for several clients and, yes, it is possible to do it without it being destroyed. Once again, it is all about the leather choice and care. We have even designed and covered kitchen cabinetry and a couple of elevators. We designed and created a leather coffee urn cover recently at the request of a client; for me it is really the excitement of the challenge of doing something new and making it work. See what I mean about pushing boundaries? We have also worked with designers to create custom leather walls...yep...walls. We have even had our purse designs on the runway!
Ok, now it is time for shameless self promotion...we recently started an Ebay store. Up until now we worked mostly with individual clients or stores and were pretty well known at one time at the Aspen Farmers Market. but now we want to branch out a bit more so here we are! I'll include links at the end of the blog so you can check us out!
Well, lots to do and this isn't getting it done so I'll sign off!
Amber
Kendall Custom Braiding & Design Ebay Store
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