Meet Best: Walnut Studiolo Shop Cat and Mouser

A Black woman wearing a denim shirt is carrying a bicycle down a set of stairs in an urban environment. The bicycle has a green paint job and honey leather wrapped handlebars.

Original, unique designs to help with lifting and carrying your bicycle

Lifetime leather bar wraps in five styles for every type of handlebar and bicycle

A woman bicycling on a bright summer day over a green lawn wearing suede fringe cowgirl boots and with a 6-pack of Anchor Steam beer connected to the top tube of her bicycle with a honey leather 6-pack frame cinch

Best-selling "commuter essentials" for making the daily commute easier

A dark brown leather round, barrel-shaped saddle bag with cedar wood sides mounted to the back of a brown leather Brooks saddle on a cream-and-brown painted bicycle

Stunning handcrafted bicycle bags carry the essentials and turn heads!

Two people playing a game of travel cribbage on a wooden picnic table with a small leather and birch cribbage board

Our original best-selling Travel Cribbage Boards have fans worldwide

Two sets of travel dice on a dark brown leather table surface. Both sets show six dice coming out of a square brass tube. The dice are 7mm, smaller than standard. One has white dice and the other has black dice.

Play dice anywhere you go in a handcrafted brass keychain or necklace.

Two people playing dominoes using small, domino-sized playing cards on a walnut wood table with snacks and drinks. The domino cards are double 12 with different colors for each number and hand-drawn.

Uniquely functional for travel: hand-drawn domino playing cards (2 sizes!)

Close-up of a folding leather travel backgammon board mid-play on a weathered wood surface. A hand is reaching in and moving four game pieces (which are brass nails) between triangles, which are laser-engraved in the honey dyed leather. Accessories are visible, dice and doubling cube and peg storage

Our newest folding leather board and favorite game: Travel Backgammon!

A variety of handcrafted leather and wood handles on a sample board as seen from above and an angle

Leather handles in 8 styles, 4 leather colors, and 3 metal finishes

A white chest of drawers in a white and lilac baby nursery with three colors of leather Morrison bin pull handles, in Honey, Dark Brown, and Black

Strong yet soft, durable and sustainable, no-bumps and no-bruises

A white kitchen drawer under a gray countertop that has a natural tan colored leather handle with nickel hardware and an engraved label that says 'Silverware'

Add a label to handles and pulls for superior organization

Two cabinet doors swinging open towards each other with matching leather Lovejoy loop handles. The leather touches so the cabinets don't crash into each other, a solution for problem corners in kitchen design planning

Flexible but sturdy, creative solutions to tricky problem corners

A roll of natural leather on a white background

We wrote a free educational series about our favorite material, delivered to your inbox.

Valerie and Geoff from Walnut Studiolo are standing on a pile of driftwood between two boulders on the North Oregon Coast beach near Manzanita, with mountains and grey sky in the background

About Us

A long dark brown leather blueprint tube is shown on a long countertop being hand stitched together by Geoff, whose stitching hands are in the background

More Information

Valerie and Geoff Franklin of Walnut Studiolo standing behind their bicycles on a grassy green lawn. Geoff is doffing his hat to Valerie and she is smiling, as a gesture of service.

Customer Service

Our blog "In a Nutshell" is chock-a-block with fresh and intriguing content written by in-house humans!

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by Valerie Franklin
October 08, 2020
2 min read

Two fluffy, tabby-striped Siberian forest cats look at the camera surrounded by scratching toys

Walnut Studiolo's father-and-daughter Siberian shop cats at rest: Best (L) and Tanuki (R)

We are delighted to introduce our 2nd new workshop assistant of 2020 and pest control expert Best -- a.k.a. "Bestie" a.k.a. "Bestie Boy".

We adopted Best in September and he's been gradually getting used to his new digs. His name came with him from the previous owner.

Best is 6 years old, a former stud and show cat living out his retirement in the countryside with grace, dignity and diligent mousing duties. He has striking green eyes, black paws, and the wild mackeral cat coloration familiar to Siberian forest cat lovers.

If you think he looks a lot like Tanuki ... you're right! Best is Tanuki's father.

Bestie the Siberian cat sitting in Geoff

Best is a gentle giant. He weighs over 15 lb and is the biggest cat we've ever owned! But he is also the sweetest, most people-centric cat we've ever met.

He loves pets down his back and even his tail, and if you rub under his chin he'll thank you with a lick. He has been great company to us during COVID quarantining and an otherwise stressful 2020.