About the Maker
Jessie is a traditional natural hide tanner and ancestral craftsperson. Her work is deeply rooted in the Dartmoor landscape, where she has a tannery in an old stone barn and teaches workshops in tanning and ancestral skills such as butchery and leather craft.
Her tannery uses locally harvested tree barks and natural oils to tan leather, furs, buckskin and rawhides. Most hides are local deer skins, redirected from waste streams. She is passionate about keeping this traditional hand skill thriving.
Statement
This piece began as a deer. A deer living in the woods and moors of Devon. Edge-dwelling, dusk walking. Hunted for food, their skin a by-product, to be thrown away.
Gathered, tended and processed to become leather, fur or rawhide. We soak the skin in alkali and the hair slips out effortlessly, revealing scars and tales from a life lived on the land. Soaked and washed, and readied for drying. Stretched on the rack and dried in the breeze, we have a rawhide — strong and durable, ready for drums or crafts or parchment.
oakandsmoketannery.co.uk · Instagram @rekindled.hearth
