We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeremiah Colladay. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeremiah below.
Alright, Jeremiah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I have been drawing and creating my entire life. It was always a passion, but not necessarily a direction I considered for a career. For a few years I dabbled in the world of tattooing, but one day a friend gave me a bag of old leather scraps and a sewing awl, and it opened a new world of creative pursuit. Still, leather work was just a hobby until 2013 when we moved cross-country, from Florida to Washington state, and ended up in a city where my wife happened to have a cousin who is a custom saddle-maker. While in the process of job-searching and trying to settle into our new home, I started hanging out in the saddle shop a few days a week. That quickly morphed into an apprenticeship, where I learned the time-honored techniques of the Western leather arts. In my time at the saddle shop I learned how to build new patterns, how to properly sew leather, and how to carve, tool and dye leather in a way that showcases my own artwork. It was an experience that totally changed the trajectory of my life.
In 2016, my wife and I decided to venture out on our own and start our small business, Colladay Leather. Outside of the world of Western leather arts, it’s less common to find artists who are tooling and carving on leather. We wanted to introduce this to a wider audience. We wanted to share my own unique artistic style while creating products that could be used in everyday life – wallets, belts, jewelry, guitar straps, etc.
When we started the business, we had no way of knowing if it would succeed, but it was just something we felt compelled to do. Through a local arts non-profit, we enrolled in an in-depth program aimed at training artists, makers, and creative entrepreneurs to transition their creative pursuits into living-wage small businesses. We hustled and applied for as many art fairs as we possibly could, selling our work wherever we were accepted, and we launched a website hoping to bust into the ecommerce world.
Like probably everyone who has ever launched a creative small business, we’ve had quite the journey. There have been plenty of moments we’ve wondered about our sanity, wondered if we could push on, wondered if this would actually support our family. But God’s grace has held us and a really awesome community of people from all over the states has rallied around what we do. So, here we are. Colladay Leather is our full-time gig. We’re still working hard, refining our business and looking to what new pursuits the future might hold.
When we started Colladay Leather it was – and still remains – an endeavor to build beautiful leather goods for everyone, preserve the artisan traditions that are at the foundation of this art form and inspire others to recognize and celebrate their own creativity.
Jeremiah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Colladay Leather is an artisan leather goods company in Spokane, Washington, owned by myself and my wife, Erin Colladay.
Most of my childhood was spent playing the guitar and drums, filling my sketchbooks with pencil and ink drawings, and innovating new products from objects I found around my house. In my early twenties I transferred my drawing skills to the world of tattooing, but a few years later I discovered my true artistic passion when a friend gave me a sewing awl and a bag of old leather scraps. After a three year apprenticeship with a custom saddle-maker, I was ready to venture into a leather business of my own.
Erin also grew up filling sketchbooks, only her pages were saturated not with drawings but with words. Then, at age twelve, she picked up her first camera and began photographing the world around her. She trained at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in 2008 and has been telling stories, with pictures and words, ever since.
Together, our passion is for artistry and the creative process, in all its forms. We believe creativity has been written into the soul of every person and our desire is to nurture that through our work. Through every product we produce, our goal is that our work will inspire others in their own creative journey, whatever form that may take.
Our mission at Colladay Leather is to build beautiful leather goods, preserve the artisan tradition and inspire creativity. We specialize in hand-tooled leather accessories, including guitar and camera straps, tool rolls, belts, wallets, jewelry and other accessories. Our products are carefully crafted by hand, one at a time or in small batches. We are very intentional about our materials, choosing to work with only the highest quality leather and hardware to ensure our products will wear durably and gain character throughout the years. Our tooled products feature our own original artwork. The techniques we employ are rooted in the time-honored traditions of the Western leather arts but infused with our own design aesthetic, an aesthetic heavily influenced by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest where we live.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
A really significant chunk of our clients have come through our involvement with the local arts non-profit, Terrain. We owe them a great deal! They’ve done a lot of work to establish a solid reputation within our local arts community, and the events and programs they put on are well supported and well attended in our city. We get a lot of new clients by participating in their twice-yearly art market, as well as being part of their collective retail storefront. In a lot of ways, it really all boils down to relationships – the relationship Terrain has with our city, our relationship to Terrain and the relationships we build with all the folks we meet at the Terrain events and programs. Building and maintaining these good relationships has been a big part of journey in finding clients, especially within our local area.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
There are quite a few folks out there doing really stellar leather work, but offering tooled leather items – with our own artwork – has really helped us stand out and build a reputation within our market. Tooled leather goods definitely represent a less saturated market, especially when you step outside the Western style. But maybe even more important than all that is simply the attitude we try to maintain as we operate this business. We do our best to find a way to connect with everyone we meet, whether that’s in person or just via email. We absolutely want people to be thrilled with the product they purchase, but we also want folks to walk away with a sense that they’re appreciated and valued outside of the consumer transaction. If you’re a budding leather artist – or any artist – you’ll find a true encourager in Jeremiah because we’ve found that camaraderie is more productive than competition in the art world. These are some of the values we hold dear and they’re a big part of what has helped develop our reputation within our market.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://colladayleather.com/
- Instagram: @colladayleather
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colladayleather/
- Youtube: @colladayleather
Image Credits
Erin Colladay Don J. Derosier