We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jomar Enciso a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jomar , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

The idea was to teach myself about leather working. How to design, how to sew, how to pattern, and how to make the final product. Selling was a distant decision at this point in time and that time, or year was 2016. It took me a year to get the basics down and to comfortably say to myself that “yeah, I’m on the starting line now”.

But how did I start? There was no one thing that triggered the idea. I’ve always wanted to work with my hands, doing DIY stuff, building, making and tinkering. I used to build gaming PC’s at one point. Now Leather, that’s something that has always interested me. The final push or trigger was when I had a request from a client to include a specific shaped tote bag in the photoshoot (I used to be a photographer) and the shape was such an impractical one that, long story short, I had to make it myself. So, the journey begins and into the rabbit hole I go.

Hand stitched or Machine stitch? I caved in and bought a commercial machine; forums really are a bad place to be in if you’re on the fence about something. Although the machine was expensive, the decision helped me tremendously in the production process, faster production times and it’s easy on my hands. Acquiring the machine also helped me focus on how I design my products and how it can be made. Then as with any first tool purchase, there was another machine purchase that really nailed in the fact that, yeah, I might just need to sell the products that I have been making, probably, someday.

So, since I have two machines now, and both can only do specific things. I started to really get into designing and patterning and expanding the line of bags that I was making. As with the sewing machines, I had no prior experience with patterning, I had no idea that making a pattern is an artform by itself. It’s a necessary step in the design process and one that needs to be taught and have guidance on. That is if you go to a workshop or a class, but since I was teaching myself, YouTube was my teacher.

I must have logged hundreds of hours in YouTube just looking for tutorials, how-to’s and ideas. Yes, it was a slower process, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I got tips and tricks to apply to what I was doing, and figure out how to make my workflow better, efficient and to have less wastage.

As I’ve mentioned before, this took a year of teaching myself, making items, researching materials, tools, equipment etc. and it all comes down to the amount of stuff that I made, that was piling up in the workshop (garage). And then, my wife, who is my business partner, product tester etc. noticed the pile of bags, told me that it’s maybe time to offload said bags. And that’s how we got to looking for a nearby pop-up event and found Maker’s Row in Berkeley. My first and only sale was for a small tote bag at a whopping price of $95.00 in cash. I still have that cash and it will never be used, ever.

After that first pop-up, we signed up for more and slowly got more comfortable with selling, more confident with the products that I was making and after Maker’s Row, we decided to start looking for bigger venues at different cities close to where we live. From December 2017 to June 2023, I was doing vending events almost every weekend. It was a great way to showcase my work, but more importantly, to meet people and potential customers. And here we are now in 2024, I’m almost a year in the new workshop and retail store which just happens to be in Berkeley. A journey that took me back to the city where I first started and that to me is a good sign.

Jomar , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Oof, yeah, I’m very bad at the “tell us about yourself” type of question. Let’s see, I’m a simple guy, likes to walk on the beach and look for lost jewelry LOL!

In my core, I’m the type of person that wants to be my own boss, own my own business, maybe it’s the subconscious part of trying to prove to my Filipino parents that I can hack it out there without having to be a doctor/nurse like they are. I did try, and went to pre-med, miserable stuff, and then shifted to a business degree, fantastic stuff.

Had a bunch of jobs before I got into the leather industry, but ultimately, I landed on it and just started running with it. You might have a business plan, or you just wing it and see if it sticks. I had a bit of both in my plans. Sure, I knew the basics of going into business, did a bit of market research etc. But I really wanted to start this on a shoestring budget, and that can only be achieved if you start doing vending events. Vending events will be your sales, marketing, market research and an ever-expanding business plan for the future of your business.

I set two goals, no timeline. First goal was I wanted to be able to purchase a van in the future to turn into a rolling retail store that I can bring to pop-ups and showcase and sell my work. It took me 2 years to get to the first goal, we bought a new van in 2019 and of course, 2020 happened. Anyway, 2021 arrived and finally got to building the retail van and after another 2 years here we are at my second goal, the shop, the retail store, the endgame? not sure yet, probably another goal?

Did I mention about persistence and support? I’m lucky enough that I have a wife who supports me, pushes me to do my very best, every day. That is something that I can never take for granted. Without her, I would not be where I am today. But I would like to also acknowledge the fact that I really persisted with the craft, which amazingly enough, I found that I’m also a very, very patient person through this craft. And I love and adore our cat and chihuahua, yes random but I have to put it out there.

My products, my creations out there in the wild, I really seldom see them, but when I do, I’m proud of the fact that they still look good, that people take care of them, cherish them. That to me is the ultimate achievement.

The way I approach my design is functionality first, form second. I like practical stuff, a bag, a tote bag, a wallet, has to function and work as it’s intended design. I like clean lines, no extra stuff needed.

Yes, I do custom work.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Quality of work/product, honesty and the willingness to listen. As cliche’ as it sounds, as a maker/crafter the products that you make speaks volume about your ability, but being honest and to really listen to your customers is what makes you build your reputation. I love talking to people, I like listening to their stories, it doesn’t even have to lead to a sale, my priority is my customers and if you want to spill out your life to me, let’s grab a chair.

I’ve noticed that those same people come back to purchase a product, but that was not my intention, that was the aftereffects. So, yeah, sometimes being a good listener and a bit talkative can help you get a sale.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think every small, self-employed business owner out there that went through the 2020 pandemic and lock down got tested on their resilience.

Personally, that was depressing for me and a lot of uncertainty for the future of the business. But I told myself to just keep on going and with the help of my wife and of course the state, I crawled on by. Picked my battles, made more products, designed and just kept busy. I was always looking forward to when the vending events will start up again, always.

True resilience is always shining brightest at the face of extreme adversity, whoever said that line was correct.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: northandeastleather
• Facebook: northandeastleather

Image Credits

Images by Jomar Enciso