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

Alright, WILLIAM thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I moved to Denver in 2011 from Philadelphia, where I owned a small skateboard company for a few years. I pretty quickly realized that the company was not going to make it when I moved to Colorado. At the same time I was a full time fish monger and since I let the skateboard company go, I needed a new creative outlet.

I have always been interested in what I consider lost arts, i.e pottery, blacksmithing, woodworking. I was really interested in becoming a blacksmith, but I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate me building a forge and hammer on an anvil all day in a fourth flour apartment in the middle of a city.

One day I came across a video online someone making simple leather items and started a little business selling them. As someone who always liked the look, feel and natural patina that leather has, the wheels started turning.

I looked up a local place that sold leather and tools and with $40 I bought a small piece of leather, dye, needles, thread and an awl after doing a little research.

After a few weeks of making some pretty bad wallets, I made a respectable one and then decided to throw a few things on Etsy where I sold something pretty quickly.

After almost 2 years, I was able to quit the fish mongering job and concentrate on the leather business, which is called Quiet Leather Works because I can do it in my Denver apartment without bothering any of my neighbors.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born and raised in South Jersey, about 12 miles from Philadelphia, where I lived for about 9 years before moving to Denver with my now wife.

My handmade leather business has quite a few products and I typically keep some of them separated. My more personalized items that are more budget friendly, I keep on my Etsy site. The higher end wallets and other items made with Tuscan leather I keep on my business site.

On Etsy I have personalized dog tags that don’t jingle. Flasks, belt buckles, luggage tags, coasters etc that you can get whatever logo or design you want on them. If you want something custom, feel free to contact me and I can see if I can do it.

The items on my business website are like it or leave it. Three leather colors, the designs are what they are and no customization.

All the items are handmade by me. I am the only “employee” and I hand sew each item and dye the leather myself if necessary.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

My business just started as a hobby so I started it with about $40 dollars. I had to throw in a few hundred dollars over the initial months, just do buy more leather and as I discovered new hand tools that would make things better and easier. So I never have had any funding.

I would sell a few items, and buy more materials, so on and so forth. Now I have a small workshop thats full of tools, leather, dyes etc. All from the $40 and my father’s Stanley knife, which was my first tool that I still use today.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I don’t wish I knew about it earlier, because it was the source of my initial inspiration to work with leather, but Youtube is amazing.

If you have a question or are wondering how something is done, there is most likely a video explaining such things. Because as creative as we all may think we are. Someone has most likely already thought of that idea, and made a video about it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://quietleather.com
• Instagram: @quietleather
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@quietleather