How your Harkin bag is made


Revealed: How your Harkin bag is made

Enter Steven Harkin workshop and follow the progress of his work. This is Steven’s cave, where he enjoys spending most of his time: on his own, BBC Radio 2 on, at his bench or sewing machine.

Behind the doors: the workshop

Templates

The templates are drawn and cut by Steven

On the walls, cardboard templates and metal blades are hanging. The blades are like giant cookie cutters. They represent parts of a bag and are used to cut the leather under the pressure of a “clicking press”: 60 tons fall onto the blade to cut the leather, every time in a perfect shape.

Metal blades

The blades are expensive to buy and are made by experts. Some bags require more than 15 blades to be cut. For this reason, not all our bags are made with blades. Some, like the Pepe backpack, are cut by hand.

 

Handbag cutting

Sharp knives to cut around the template

 

The clicking press

 

The skiving machine

The “skiving machine” is used to thin the edges of the leather where it gets sewn or glued together.

Steven Harkin stitching

spools of thread

Steven Harkin Youtube Video

Stitching a bag requires great precision and focus

Hope you enjoyed this and can now appreciate how Steven Harkin bags being made is an art!

 

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