The year was 2013. Four years into our experiment with Walnut Studiolo, we took a moment to capture and survey the growth of our business with talented photographer, Jim Golden. By then, we'd designed over 25 Walnut Studiolo products and curated a growing workshop in our home garage (see more in our photo essay: Evolution of a Workshop, 2019).
Jim's crisply laid-out collection shows all of our product designs and an interesting series of artifacts, curios, and tools from our workshop. In addition to the art print poster, we loved this image so much that we traced it into a line drawing for Gift Wrap, a Bicycle Print Bandana, Limited Edition T-Shirts, and more.
Yes, this really is one actual photograph! Want to know how it was made? See a behind-the-scenes slideshow of the making of this photograph.
1. It all started with this bike. My dad's old Bianchi that I took apart, powder-coated, and rebuilt. I used this bike to commute to work for a couple years and it was on those commutes that I came up with many of Walnut Studiolo's products.
2. These are an essential tool in the leather workshop for cutting straight lines off the hides.
3. I use a good-fashioned mallet to emboss our logo and monograms.
4. My dad's cribbage board I have always played on. This was ultimately the inspiration for the cribbelt (cribbage board belt).
5. An antique Singer pinking machine cuts through leather like butter but is small enough to fit in your pocket!
6. I use these to punch leather holes, preferably when I'm relaxing in front of a good movie.
7. I don't use this tool very much, but if I were ever going to play dentist on a horse, I'd be all set.
8. I've collected all sizes of these over the years. These punches make large circles like for leather washers.
9. These anvils are what I use to set rivets and emboss against. A piece of cut railroad tie works great as a second anvil.
10. This shows the progress of the woodwork of the adjustable handle. I cut it out on the bandsaw, sand it down, finish it, then attach it to the straps.
11. A clean workspace is so important! I'm cleaning up my workstation constantly with this horsetail brush.
12. These are used to thin straps of leather, using a replaceable flat razor blade.
13. For scratching a parallel line to a board, or to draw circles.
14. I use these brass calipers for measuring bicycle tube diameters. Analog, baby!
15. Halted halfway through hand-stitching.
16. Keepin' my leather boots clean with a boot polish brush.
17. Using this tubular rivet press to assemble a six-pack is like wrestling a raccoon.
18. Some of my best tools come from eBay lot sales. I use these antique Sargent & Co. parallel jaw pliers all the time to bend metal.
19. Made in the USA, razor sharp! Can be used to fine cut leather instead of an exacto blade.
20. These are good for rough cutting leather, but all of these need sharpening!
21. A creaser is used like a bone folder, for making folds in thick leather.
22. For measuring leather thickness.
23. I use rubber cement in the construction process of some products. Always toluene-free!
24. This is a bike polo mallet I made in the studio with a 4-braid leather grip. I made a whole series of these and this was the best one, using an old ski pole.
25. These all-leather custom top-tube bags have saddle-stitched edges. I made one of these for a customer in Texas, and one in Japan. This is an example of the custom work I've done. Every once in a while when I make a custom product, I like it enough that I make an extra to keep for myself, like these.
...about the amazing photographer who made this work, Jim Golden, by reading this article in WIRED Magazine or going to his website.
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