The Master Leatherseller Christopher Barrow and Second Warden Jonathan Muirhead OBE DL were honoured to meet world-renowned leather artist Mark Evans at his studio near St Albans recently.
Mark talked us through his process and explained the light bulb moment of his craft a couple of decades ago, when trying to eradicate a stain on his new leather jacket. His work is astonishing in its scale and likeness, remarkable in the fact that what at first glance appears to be a brushstroke is in fact a surface scratch on the leather, sometimes painstakingly painted too.
Mark also goes to great lengths to capture the images he wants to recreate, including digging himself into the turf to photograph a frenetic polo match from below, and close-up encounters with wild things.
It was a fascinating 90 minutes with a true talent, and we can't wait to see more of Mark and his exceptional work soon.
