Harnessing Traditional Skills
Latrobe City is home to one of only five horse harness-makers in Australia. Traralgon-based business, L for Leather - the brainchild of retired schoolteacher, Brian - has been trading more than a decade and supplies its products Australia-wide.
L for Leather specialising in the manufacture and supply of a range of collars, hames and harnesses for Clydesdale, Shire, Percheron and draught (draft) horses. Armed with a desire to learn the skills and trade of yesteryear, Brian has combined his love of working horses with the crafting of leather and Beta harness for these animals.
As an owner of draft horses himself, Brian continues to work horses on his property which enhances his innate understanding of what customers want and need from his products. While there is a scarcity of documented information on this traditional trade, Brian has continued to ply his skills and acquire knowledge in a diversity of ways, including fossicking for old harnesses at auctions to pull apart and explore their construction.
L for Leather posts its products across Australia and also fulfills requests for custom-made products such as hunting file slings, bullet holders and leather belts. For more information visit www.facebook.com/LForLeather