Defining Your Style

[Opagon]

1. Traditional with Flare - I like to use colors that are not normally seen in braiding. I also have a tendency to make items more showy and go beyond the need of the function.

2. Functionality has the biggest impact on my style, followed by personal perference and then what I can sell. I find that I can generally place folks that ask me to braid for them in two catagories:

a) must be very traditional and all Rawhide

I want something that no one else will have.

Heather

[abn]

I think that my style is influenced by... the place I live...

It's funny you bring that up, Clay, because I'm convinced that's one of the major influences in my work, as well. I've lived my entire life near the Blue Ridge Mountains and have spent a good bit of time in the Smokies, too. I've gotten to see lots of mountain crafts, whether it's leather, clay, iron or wood. Most of these items are simple and clean, and designed to favor function over form. While I love to admire ornate objects, I've found I have very little talent in producing them, so I stamp instead of carve and keep designs as simple as possible.

Now, these preferences don't have much to do with what customers want. Since I don't depend on leatherwork for income (thankfully, 'cause I'm too damn slow ), I focus on what feels right to me. It's hard to describe, but about a year ago, I started developing an instinct for what works for me and what doesn't... Maybe that's the beginning of figuring out your own style...

[Pip]

My style could be described by some as "amateur rustic" (or tatty by others) I guess

[SCOUTER]

Alex Great topic! I guess we are all trying to find our nitch to separate us from the rest.

My style is trying to blend traditional leatherwork with pyrography.

I was always impressed with traditional carvings and pyrography colors the leather without dyes or paint. making a permanent, functional piece of art that should look better with age.

"It's not what it looks like now, it's what will it look like in 10 years?"

[rdb]

I like this topic!. Thanx abn.

IMHO: Style can probably be defined in several ways.

First: there is the craftsmanship side. You could copy traditional styles, but there is something in the items you make, that distinguishes you from the others. Maybe that would include how you use the hand tools, pear shaders, etc. You might even use a hand tool differently to create a new something (think Freak's leaves in his backgrounding)

There are acceptably standard ways to hand sew, for instance, but you may end with a wrap, instead of a backstitch, or both.

Second: there is the actual design on the piece. All the bike guys here have distinguishable differences in their design choices, braid/stich/rivet choices.

There are the actual patterns of the piece, maybe original patterns (think Kevin King's wallets, or esantoro's bags, or Jordans cellphone holster. (I'm not leaving people out, just random choices, or this comment would run 12 pages naming everyone's contributions...not to mentionall the incredible saddlers). They are all combinations of the works that came before, yet, with a personal style applied.

Maybe it's just one of these, or all of them that distinguish a person's work. Maybe it has to do with location , like clay said, after all, the people who buy from you local, are the ones that tell you what to make. Horsey people, musicians, corporate types....

I'm not even sure we, as artists, and craftsman actually know what our styles are. We know what choices we make, in leather, and design. We allot time frames to our piece making, that influence quality. We make our own unique decisions, but it maybe the outside observer who finally decides if you have a style, or not. If they see the difference in what you do, then, You have a style.

[Kevin King]

I've been thinking about this one a bit.

I think your "style" is an ever evolving process. Just look back at your first project and compare to what your making now. Is it the same? Or has it evolved as your experience grows?

I dont know if I can define my style personally. Someone here on LW called my work "biker elegant". So maybe your style is actually defined by others?

The examples given in the first post of BMW, hummer, etc. are all more examples of "branding" which is key in big commercial success. Personally, I don't know if I want to be branded.

KK

Edited February 1, 2008 by Kevin King

[abn]

The examples given in the first post of BMW, hummer, etc. are all more examples of "branding" which is key in big commercial success. Personally, I don't know if I want to be branded.

Kevin, you bring up an interesting point.

By "branding" I assume you mean a concerted effort to make products similar and recognizable. And you're right, it's clear that BMW and Hummer are trying to incorporate certain design elements into every vehicle they make so they have the right "look." So, what's bad about this? One downside might be that the engineers don't have complete freedom to design -- they're always limited by parameters that establish the corporate brand. A great example is that every BMW model needs to have that patented split grille, regardless of whether it's the best or most efficient design.

I totally respect artisans that aren't willing to live with parameters, and try to experiment and introduce completely new designs. However, I've also discovered I have a strong desire to make products that resemble one another. I guess I'm guilty of branding -- I do prefer to make my wallets look like my wristbands, that also look like my notepads. I want to be able to take all of these items, put them on a table, and recognize that one person made them...

[ClayB]

Alex,

I don't think your products actually have to look that similar for your style to show through, when you get that style developed to a recognizable level. Look at Peter Main's work. It doesn't matter if it's a gun belt, a covered mirror, or a book cover, there are things he does that make his work recognizable, even without his unique signiture. His coloring technique, his use of the modeling tool, the perfection in everything he does.

Jan Schoonover does a lot of work very similar in style to what Robb Barr did. But, if you set their work side by side, it wouldn't take long to figure out which one of them did each piece. They each have things that give away thier work (thier style).

I bet there are a lot of saddle makers here that can pick out the work of a lot of thier peers just by looking at it. Might be the way they cut out a certain piece, the way they tool, the way certain things are assembled.

Here on the forum there are people who's style shows in thier work. Look at Kate Dubiel's work. It doesn't matter if it's a chessboard or a book mark. Her unique style of coloring gives it a way as well as her attention to the tiny details. Art and Vera Goldberg is another. Doesn't matter if it's a picture or a vase, the style that they have developed shows through in either one and makes it recognizable.

I have studied the work of a lot of people and try to take something from a each of them and incorporate it into what I do. I think it would be really neat though for your own unique style to show through no matter how different your projects are.

[TwinOaks]

Post-modern-neo-classical-avante-traditionalist-conservative-goth, with a blend of light and dark moods that mixes to a nice plain gray. Sorry- I'm too new at this to have a style.

[Jordan]

Style, STYLE, we no need no stinkin style! LOL. Seriously though I have a style but haven't the faintest clue what it might be, perhaps artisticaly challenged or hodgepodge functionality. I was looking at a Norwiegen museum site the other day and saw a barrel seat that was carved with what looks to me like the sheridan style may have evolved from it, so maybe style is in a constant state of evolution and can't be pegged down.