Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rafael Batrez jr. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rafael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Before I began Timothy Luke Leather, I worked at Scholastic Book Fairs for about 14 years. During that time I had an interest in leather work and took it up as a hobby. During Covid, my work location shut down and I became a stay at home dad while my wife continued to work. During this time, I self taught the skills I needed to perfect my craft and really poor myself into my work. My wife suggested I begin to sell my items to friends and family and eventually the farmer’s market, just to see how it would go. I decided I’d give it a try and sat down with my wife and figured out our plan. I knew I wanted to leave a legacy behind for my boys, and that’s where the name T & L Leather first came about. We are slowl transitioning our name to Timothy Luke Leather. Timothy is my older son, who right now is 13 years old and has taken a small interest in leather work. My second son, Luke, is 8 years old and still enjoying the easy life. My wife and I love to watch the history and travel chanels and one day we were watching a show that had a section on spirtuality and how God is found in everything. This is where our logo of the pine cone comes in. The pine cone signifies the pattern it is believed in which God creates everything. It can be found so much in nature, it’s like His fingerprint in all that He does. Our faith is something we hold steafast to and rely upon. We also use the scripture Colossians 1:17 that states “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” We believe in putting God at the center of everything we do as a livation to Him.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a self-taught leather craftsmen and began my business in the garage of my home. I eventually began selling products at the local farmer’s markets and within a couple of years developed a core following. After about three years, a friend of my mine Ruben Gomez offered me his location in the Cortez building downtown where he had established El Paso’s Finest Art & Souviners. Here is where I combined the two businesses together and became the sole owner. My products are unique in that they are all hand made, every cut, stain, wax, and thread. I try to keep my business local when buying supply for my leather as well. I strongly believe our community has so much to offer. My products are not mass produced and this gives each of them a unique character and creates a personalized product for its’ owner. I create custom items from knife holders, badge holders and other special requests. I keep a steady line of tote bags, backpacks, travel bags and wallets to provide a quality product for each customer. I want my customers to know they are recieving a product that has been poured with love, care and perfection to provide them with a lifelong product.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

When speaking about T & L Leather, I met my cofounder, my wife, online. We always laugh and say we need to come up with a better story, But it was that simple. Before online dating was a big thing, we met through myspace when she was looking for a recording studio. I had a small studio years ago. Through those conversations we just kept talking and next thing we knew, we had been together years later. We married had our kids, the whole happily ever after, as they say. El Paso’s Finest came to me with a core of local artist who displayed their art and products in the shop. We all work together to come up with events and are always looking for other local artists. El Paso has art community with highly talented individuals who have an amzaing passion for what they do. Each artist has a unique style that draws in a variety of clientle.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

My favorite way of marketing is hosting art parties at the shop. Every other month we have a different theme and invite the public to enjoy a time of creating art of their own, while being guided by one of the arists we have in the shop. The first time I held an event, I was so nervous no one was going to show up. We had advertised through social media and in person at the markets and the shop. When the day finally came, I actually had a full house and sales that night were awesome. I recently held a Frida event, which the Cortez buidling management allowed me to use their ballroom. In this event, I invited local artist to submit an original painting and have it displayed. They each had to opportunity to sell their art as well. During the night, several artist were excited to be selling their art and the shop as well did very well. Events like these gives us exposure to different people within the community who still don’t know we exist. I even had a young child submit their art, and it was very good.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tandlleather.com
• Instagram: @tandlleather
• Facebook: Tandlleather
• Other: @shopepfinest

Image Credits
Vanessa Clark Ruben Gomez