Being born in Oregon, I look at photos of my family when we lived in Oakridge: my parents lived in flannels or embroidered tops and their bellbottoms were held up by handtooled leather belts. Men had facial hair, shaggy hair was common, and my dad could usually be seen with a can of Coors in hand. Me and the sister were barefooted and when we weren’t nekkid, we’d be in our jeans and tye-dyed shirts, all either made by Mom or picked up from some crafty hippie living in the woods. My parents were born 50 years too early. Then they were rebels- now they would fit in on stage with some hipster band playing electro.rap.rock.opera.metal. My folks were O.G.’s.

Fast forward to 2010. You may have heard that people in Portland like bikes. Another fact that you may or may not know is that Portland and Oregon as a whole, is still home to some crafty people. Outside of Eugene- leather work has steered away from belts displaying tooled images of dragons relaxing in a field of mushrooms and marijuana. Portland based Walnut Studiolo is a company working with leather and making some impressive handicrafts.  I found them on Etsy, where their Portage strap caught my eye.

Walnut Studiolo will be exhibiting with BikePortland at Pedal Nation April 10-11: www.pedalnationevents.com

Check out their latest news and pictures on their Facebook page HERE
Or follow them on Twitter: @walnutstudiolo