NYC’s Female Leathersmiths, Part 1: Kika NY
Posted in: Uncategorized
Hailing from the Netherlands, Sabine Spanjer was an interaction designer. Fellow Dutchwoman Kika Vliegenthart earned a Bachelors in Economics. So naturally the two found themselves starting up a leather goods company in NYC, producing beautiful models like the Postal BackPack #3, above and below, and a line of bags, device cases, sandals, belts, suspenders, wallets and more. (See the full line-up here.)
The two operate out of a space in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard under the name Kika NY, designing and producing goods–all by hand–that go out to shops in New York, San Francisco, L.A., Austin, Portland, and overseas.
Our goal is to design high quality goods that will last a lifetime —ones with clean, simple lines that eliminate the unnecessary.
To keep the the tradition alive, we work with machines custom-built for our studio and tools from old-school suppliers in France and the UK. Most of our resources come from Europe as well. We use high-end leather from Portugal, Italy, and Belgium, and our solid brass hardware is hand-tooled in a family-owned foundry in Europe.
It didn’t happen overnight, of course; before starting up Kika NY, Vliegenthart spent some 15 years apprenticing under a rather legendary NYC leathersmith whom we’ll look at next.
Post a Comment