Quality Leather Goods handmade in Chapel Hill, NC

Awl & Leaf is a family owned leather goods company that was founded in 2018 in Chapel Hill, NC by Ryan Hertel. Originally from Atlanta, Ryan and his family picked up and moved to North Carolina in 2017 so that his wife Courtney could get medical treatment at Duke. Courtney’s health was deteriorating after a life long battle with Cystic Fibrosis and she was desperately in need of new lungs to live. After a rollercoaster of a year which included Courtney spending months on a ventilator and almost dying in the hospital, she received a miraculous life-saving double lung transplant at Duke University Hospital in July of 2017. In the month following her surgery and while still living in the hospital, Ryan (who was serving as Courtney’s caregiver) began to take an interest in handmade leather goods which he had come across online. Using scrap leather and a starter kit he ordered off Amazon, Ryan made his first wallet right there in the hospital room at Duke. He instantly fell in love with the craft and while Courtney continued to make a full recovery he began to devote more and more time to honing his leather skills and seeking out the highest quality materials he could find.

Today, Ryan continues to personally make each and every Awl & Leaf product by hand from start to finish. Bypassing the use of machines completely and hand stitching each item allows for maximum durability and attention to detail. Only the highest quality full grain leathers are used in our products and we source them from responsible world-class tanneries such as Horween and Wickett & Craig here in the United States and Conceria Walpier and La Perla Azzura in Italy. We use vegetable tanned leathers that develop a patina and grow more beautiful with age.