About

Bentleys, the vintage luggage specialist, hosts a week-long residency with arguably Britain’s finest traditional leather craftspeople: Tetbury’s Neil MacGregor and Valerie Michael.

Neil MacGregor and Valerie Michael have an international reputation as designers and makers of best quality, hand-stitched leather goods. They have been making by hand in an artisanal workshop in Tetbury, Gloucestershire since 1974. They use only the highest-grade vegetable-tanned leathers and source or commission hardware in brass and silver.

‘Our designs aim to reveal something about the nature of leather and craftsmanship, while addressing the practical needs of our customers. The leathers we use are vegetable-tanned, the active ingredients coming from the bark and leaves of various trees and shrubs. We use no machinery in the making, preferring the direct simplicity of hand tools and the quiet rhythms of the workshop.’

Bentleys exhibits the first of Neil’s commissions, a historically accurate recreation of a Victorian kit bag, alongside the original bag that was the inspiration. The new commission uses leather from J. & F.J. Baker and Co Ltd, Britain’s only remaining traditional oak bark tannery.