What is your name, your leather craft business, and where are you located?

My name and brand name is Peter Nitz. I live and work in Zurich, Switzerland.

What types of leather goods do you make, or what is your role in the leather craft business?

Primarily I focus on mens and womens bags, but I also do a variety of small leather goods. My specialty is exotic skins. I design and make each item myself as well as handling all the marketing/social media associated with the brand.

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your leather crafting in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

I would have to say a pair of pliers from Riri to apply zipper end stops. It’s a little over $100.- but it’s seriously taken a lot of stress off of getting my zippers perfect.

How has a setback, or seeming setback, set you up for later success in leather craft? Do you have a “favorite failure”?

That’s the irony of everything in life. As painful as mistakes and failures are, and as much as we do all we can to avoid them, you literally need to have them. Without challenges there would be no change or growth. I think some of the biggest setbacks that have worked in my favor have come from lack of funds. It forces you to be creative.

When I wasn’t able to order custom hardware, I had to think of design ideas to compensate for that. Many of my favorite details have come from only having a few options to work with. Its actually amazing how much you can do with very little when you have no other choice!

If you could collaborate with another leather crafter to make an item, which leather crafter would it be and what would you make?

I would probably choose Sima in Prague or one of the Japanese guys like GO or Niwa. I would make anything they want to make just so I can see the techniques used.

I love how precise and meticulous their craftsmanship is.

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)

A good skiving machine (expensive but an absolute must if you are serious), a table top sander and saves so much time, and an electric edge creaser (not too pricey and another absolute must!).

But I am going to say time is the best and most valuable investment.

Time spent improving my craftsmanship, time dedicated to building relationships with customers, time… in this business everything takes time!

What’s an unusual or odd technique in your process that you’re pretty sure most people don’t do?

Hmm, I don’t think there is anything really crazy different that others aren’t doing as well. Maybe my technique for pre-punching all the holes on opposing panels and then lining them all up with the needles before stitching (instead of using the awl while stitching to punch through the second panel).

In the last five years, what new mindset, behavior, or habit has most improved your leather craft?

Honestly, I don’t think there is anything specific other than the years of practice which helps make everything flow easier and faster.

What advice would you give a smart, driven person about to get into leather craft? What advice should they ignore?

Be prepared for the long hard road ahead. If it’s just for a hobby then no stress, but if you want to make a career and live from it you need to understand it’s not an easy business.

If you have a real passion for leather working then you will enjoy it despite the long hours, frustrations, rejections, mishaps, difficulty in selling, the list goes on…just make sure it’s really what you love doing!

I wouldn’t say you should ignore any advice. Just filter it through knowing what it is you want to achieve and who the person is giving it. Seek out advice from people who have already traveled the road and gathered expertise, but remember there is no one way, we all have to make our own path.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

I think a lot of people fall into the trap of thinking they need all kinds of fancy tools and gadgets to help them improve their craft. I completely disagree with that. The most important thing is to know the proper techniques. I do a lot of teaching and I always tell my students on the first day not to worry. Leather working is easy if you have any kind of basic talent working with your hands, AND as long as you learn the correct methods.

Once you know, it’s simply practice! I have never had a student who couldn’t saddle-stitch correctly by the end of the first day after spending months or even years trying to figure it out on their own from books or youtube videos or other people doing it incorrectly.

Fancy tools are always nice to have but they don’t really help you improve the basic skills (which is pretty much entirely what leather working is built on).

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do? (If helpful: What questions do you ask yourself?)

That happens pretty much every time I start a new project. If it’s something that I have made in the past then I’m pretty relaxed and focused. However, when I have start something completely new, I always go through the same emotional cycle. I am fully aware of this cycle, I know it’s ridiculous, but that doesn’t stop it from happening

I doubt myself, don’t think I can do it, can’t imagine how I ever made anything before, feel like every part of the project is impossible. At some point I have to force myself to just start and not let my crazy thoughts get the better of me.

Once I get started those doubts slowly start to disappear and then I become focused and more confident. A good trick I’ve found is to start with a part of the project that I know is easy for me. For example, if the handles are a style I’ve done before, then I’ll start with those, and then by the time they are done I am back in the leather working groove and wondering WTF I was ever worried about 😉

Where can people find you (links to online store, blog, twitter, Instagram, etc.)

www.peternitz.com

Instagram: Atelierpeternitz

Youtube: Peter Nitz

Pinterest: Atelier Peter Nitz