Liam Dillon grew up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland, and trained as a painter straight out of high school. But it wasn’t until years later when he was working at a cafe in London, and made a friend who was training to be a cordwainer (a shoemaker who crafts specifically from leather) that he realised the depth of his own passion for the same material.

“我的朋友谈到了古代技能和技巧的启发，”利亚姆说。他回到澳大利亚并在RMIT的定制鞋类课程中注册，得分了Parigina鞋类in Brunswick (a family business from the ’60s making men’s formal shoes) soon after. Liam did all this with the intention of launching his own his shoe brand, but as time went on, he became more and more interested with the possibilities of leather beyond footwear.

Liam Dillon Designswas founded around a single material Liam discovered over the course of his experimentation: vegetable tanned kangaroo leather. This unique material is a natural by-product of annual pest control programs, which are overseen by the Australian government and operate under strict guidelines. As kangaroos are not farmed or bred, there is no water or land involved in cultivating their skins, all of which makes it arguably the most sustainable locally available leather.

On top of this, Liam only uses hides which are treated with plant-based dyes. ‘Vegetable tanning is a completely natural and ancient process that uses the tannins found in leaves and bark to produce a non-toxic and biodegradable material,’ Liam explains. ‘As with human skin, vegetable-tanned leather naturally ages with time. It can darken, mark and scar with use. It changes with you.’

Liam sources his kangaroo leather from thePacker昆士兰州的Tannery - 一个国际知名的家庭企业，现在由第五代包装商经营。它是他使用的唯一材料，用手切割每件，并采用传统的技术，称为“偷偷摸摸”，将皮革弯曲成造型而不会磨损折痕。切割和塑造皮革后，利亚姆在旧的PFAFF缝纫机上缝合在一起;虽然有一些较厚的碎片，但他必须用手斜面。这种故意选择单个材料意味着他可以专注于做一件事并做到这一点reallywell.

‘I work with incredibly beautiful, old machinery, knives and hand tools that I have acquired over time,’ he says. ‘Working in an old craft means that a lot of my machinery has been around longer than me.’

它可能听起来艰难而老式，但利亚姆释放了这个过程涉及的时间和焦点，它给了他对生活在他们到达他的工作室之前的生活的激烈尊重。'袋鼠是野生动物，所以他们的皮肤经常被伤痕累累或标记。他们参加战斗，他们穿过苛刻的澳大利亚丛林，他们被昆虫咬伤。我选择在皮革中拥抱这些不完美，因为他们讲述了一个故事'他说。

由于天然皮革在天然单宁染色，因此澳大利亚景观的赭石造型在利亚姆的所有设计中闪耀。它来自它来自的土地的真实代表性！

As enamoured as we are with Liam’s dedication? A selection of his pieces are available athandsandError 404。他还将摊位Rose Street Artists’ Marketin Fitzroy on the 23rd of January, the 6th and 20th of February.

Learn more about Liam Dillon Designshere。