Change is good
Posted: Mar 20 2015
News
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It has been a long winter full of changes here at Rowland Leather. We said goodbye to our Kemptville location, moved the workshop and renovated our Merrickville store. Thank you to everyone who came out to wish us well as we closed the Kemptville store. It was wonderful being a part of such a great community for 12 years, it will be missed. Our Merrickville store has undergone a top to bottom renovation. We are so excited for you to come and see the changes for yourself! We are not going to spoil it by putting pictures up. The workshop is still a work in progress. There is so much involved in trying to set it all up properly so that the creation can flow easily. As I am sure many of you can attest, it was hard to get motivated when the weather was so cold. So instead of staying around these frigid parts Michael...
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An Exercise of the Imagination - Birdhouses
Posted: May 15 2014
In 1996, there was a birdhouse competition at the juried One Of A Kind craft show held each April in Toronto. My first birdhouse, made entirely out of leather and findings I use to make my bags, won one of the prizes at that competition. I've always wanted to do a series of birdhouses, so this year, during the always quiet month of January after the busy Christmas season, I did just that. By spending a few days devoted to the project of designing and building bird houses, I was able to creatively exercise my imagination. -
Visit to Ausonia Tannery
Posted: Apr 02 2012
Rowland Leather Trip to Italy Ausonia Tannery On my recent trip to Italy I visited the Ausonia Tannery in Santa Croce sull’Arno near Florence. Rowland Leather has been buying leather from this tannery for about eight years now. Travelling by train through parts of Florence and Tuscany, I arrived at the station in San Romano. I was warmly greeted by Maurizio, the gentleman I have been dealing with at Ausonia over the years. The tannery is a beautiful, state-of-the-art, computerized complex. With Maurizio as a tour guide, I learned how Ausonia processes the raw leather they purchase from France. These leathers are organic products, easy to recycle. As well as supplying Rowland Leather, Ausonia supplies leather to the world’s top designers at Gucci, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. Before leaving Ausonia, I sat down with Maurizio to select and custom-order the beautiful leather. This leather has now arrived and I'm...
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Trip to Iqaluit
Posted: Jan 04 2012
A year ago, Rowena House, executive director of the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association (NACA), walked into Rowland Leather in Merrickville. She was extremely impressed with the quality of the work being done by local designer/craftsman, Michael Rowland. She wondered if it might be possible to entice him to share his expertise with talented seamstresses in Nunavut. NACA promotes the growth and appreciation of Nunavut artists, and the production of their arts and crafts. And so it began… The next twelve months saw negotiations and preparation. Michael started experimenting with some of the arctic leathers and found them to be quite amenable to the tricks of his trade. A workshop was planned for mid February to take place in Arviat on the west coast of Hudson’s Bay. The weather, however, did not co-operate so the workshop was postponed and rescheduled to take place in Iqaluit. Finally, in Sept 2011 Michael had the...
