Micky, the designer and maker behind Du Goods, understands the value of a truly handmade product. The ‘cut & paste’ nature of his Graphic Design career inspired Micky to get back to basics and make beautiful things by hand. Read on to learn more about the inspiration behind this 100% handmade label.
Tell us a bit about Du Goods and what products we can expect to discover?
Du Goods create a range of elegant and beautifully handcrafted leather accessories using traditional tools while meeting contemporary aesthetics. The simplicity and minimalistic designs are complemented with the use of vegetable tanned leather. It’s characters and further enriched by the natural patina of leather over time and use.
I’m constantly looking how I can create functional ways to carry everyday items with leather to complement the craft of hand stitching and finishing. The key for me is to create form with beauty with the different quality leathers I use. I’m trying not to be too influenced by highly fashionable items, so you’d expect more simplistic and timeless designs that focuses on discrete details that are both functional as well as designs that are understated, appealing to those who are looking for style rather than fashion.
What is your background and how did you start working with leather?
My love for creating ideas and graphic design started some 20 years ago without computers, so everything was done pretty much by hand. So my skills have always stayed with me to create highly original paper related material in the printed form. This included all things such as interesting embossing, binding mechanisms, folders and fasteners that are functional as well as being tactile to the touch. Now I just feel like going back to use those skills with other materials by challenging and applying my skills onto something new. I suppose it’s a new kind of feel-good smell and texture for me – instead of being a printed form, now it’s leather.
What inspires you daily?
There are countless inspirations from different sources that inspires me. So much design porn out there! I recently had a chat with a friend who knows the head of design at Hermes, she told me about her visit to his private studio in Bordeaux. I dream of visiting and get acquainted to him.
What is your workspace like and what is your creative process?
I have limited space as my home is my studio at the moment. It’s great to work from for now, but I intend to look for bigger space when the brand grows. I feed myself with a daily dose of stuff from Instagram. Do a little sketching to start and develop ideas from that.
What challenges have you faced starting your own label, and what are some things you love about it?
It’s never easy to get things off the ground for a start. It took a year to finally get my site up. Doing everything yourself is the biggest challenge for now. Being a brand designer, I create and design brands day in and day out and a lot of them do not get exposed which is often frustrating and now I have created a brand for myself and it is a tangible product at the end of the day. Working with leather also creates an immediate emotional appeal to the user. It’s not fake and it’s a honest material to work with and also it gives me a new skill to learn and improve over time.
What aspirations do you have for your label in the future?
I’d like to continue focus on producing and designing quality crafted leather goods that are enjoyable to use and enhance our every day life. In the future I’d love to collaborate with another designer and create a whole range of lifestyle products that maintains the design ethos of Du Goods.
www.dugoods.com
instagram.com/du_goods
