Boutique and Unique: Sarah Ashcroft of Stentorian Leather

Bottom right: Sarah Ashcroft in her studio. Two of her favourite bespoke designs – left: The ‘Ida’ bag and top right: ‘The Classic Messenger.’

Carefully crafted

Story by Brittany Pfeiffer.

Port Willunga-based leather crafter Sarah Ashcroft handmakes minimalistic bags, purses and accessories under her label, Stentorian Leather. ‘Stentorian’ means a voice that speaks loudly and powerfully, and with their pared-back, perfectlyproportioned forms, Sarah’s pieces certainly demand your attention.

Pursuing creative outlets from a young age, Sarah settled on leather crafting while she was living in Byron Bay. ‘Creating a leather product by hand from start to finish is a very rewarding thing. It’s lovely working with a quality material like leather, the feeling of pulling a piece of leather off the shelf and rolling it out on my workbench like a blank canvas is incredibly satisfying,’ says Sarah.

After stocking up on leather scraps from a store in Byron Bay on her drive home from work one day, Sarah began using YouTube to teach herself the craft – making bags and accessories for friends and herself. ‘The wallets I made when I was starting out were so terrible, but it shows my skills are much more refined and I’m so proud of what I can make nowadays,’ says Sarah. Encouraged by her friends and partner, Robert, she started selling her pieces locally and Stentorian Leather was born.

Sarah and Robert relocated to the Fleurieu Peninsula twelve months ago. Robert had spent his summer holidays in Port Willunga as a child and the slow and relaxed lifestyle and pristine beaches drew them in. Sarah is continuously inspired by the natural surroundings of her new locale, ‘the colour palette directly reflects the beach with the warm earthy tones or the shades of blue I choose,’ says Sarah. It’s not just the local landscape, but also the feedback she receives from her local customers (who can buy directly or through Little Road Studio in Aldinga and the Fleurieu Arthouse in McLaren Vale) that inspires her. ‘Having a business is so thrilling when I get to see someone value the product I invested so much time into,’ Sarah says.

Stentorian Leather was created with sustainability in mind and Sarah is committed to staying true to natural materials and traditional techniques, and making sustainable choices wherever possible. She chooses the best-quality, full-grain leather for all Stentorian products. ‘In a lot of cases the top layers of leather are shaved back to remove the imperfections and scars left from the lifetime of the animal. This in turn compromises the quality and strength of the leather,’ Sarah explains. Further to this, she uses vegetable-tanned leather for most of Stentorian’s products – the environmentally friendly alternative to chrome-tanned leather. ‘Roughly eighty per cent of leather out there is chrome tanned which is a highly chemical tanning process,’ says Sarah. Vegetable tanning offers a completely natural, albeit slower, tanning alternative, using various barks, leaves and plants to tan the leather. The result is a more durable, chemicalfree material.

Each of Sarah’s pieces are designed and handmade in her backyard studio in Port Willunga using techniques that, alongside her choice of leather, contribute to a longer life for each of her designs. She uses a hand-stitching technique called saddle-stitch: ‘this traditional stitch uses two needles that weave through the leather in opposite directions. This technique is more durable and has a greater longevity,’ explains Sarah. While she prefers to hand stitch, Sarah is also looking to buy an industrial sewing machine this year to help with the growing number of orders she’s receiving. The demand and growth of Stentorian Leather means Sarah is looking to go full time in the next couple of months, bringing her husband on board to help with the business side. It seems the voice of Stentorian Leather will only continue to grow in strength.

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