Best of British

Genevieve Bennett brings pattern to life through her threedimensional works of leather art

Luxe leather artworks

DESIGNER GENEVIEVE Bennett launched her first collection of sculpted leather panels and three-dimensional artworks in 2008, eight years after graduating from the Royal College of Art. She had studied textiles and long been fascinated by material and pattern. ‘I’ve always enjoyed playing around with materials, so knew I’d go on to work with them in interesting ways,’ she says.

However, it took her some time to start her own business. After leaving college, she worked as a textile designer for eight years, but spent her free time experimenting with leatherwork, deciding she wanted to explore the material ‘much more seriously’.

‘I started looking at traditional leatherwork techniques, like embossing and inlaying,’ she says, ‘and considering how they could be given more of a contemporary aesthetic through pattern.’

Today, she lives in London with her eight-year-old son and works from a design studio in the east of the city, overlooking a canal. Her bespoke leatherwork – which she cuts and sculpts by hand – has been used for wall-coverings, artwork panels and on furniture, and she has collaborated with brands including Mulberry and Wedgwood.

When Bennett begins a new project, she starts by drawing the pattern, often taking inspiration from Islamic tiles and art-deco metalwork. She then creates a mock-up using card – her work is usually commissioned by a client (whether a hotel or an individual buyer) and she shows them the card model before beginning to work with leather.

Next, she orders the leather (chosen depending on the design). For the last 10 years she has worked with two Italian tanneries in Pisa that produce vegetable-tanned varieties. ‘It is tanned with extracts of oak and chestnut and, over time, it changes in a really natural way,’ she explains. Finally, Bennett sculpts and carves the leather by hand, using a special technique she keeps secret.

Having spent 10 years working with leather of all shapes and sizes – from wall coverings of just 8in x 8in to a commission measuring 430sq ft for a Las Vegas hotel – she has recently ventured into metalwork, using the same patterns as her leatherwork. Bennett hasn’t ruled out other materials, too. ‘Maybe metal or glass will be next.’ genevievebennett.com

Top Sculpted leather samples. Far right Artist Genevieve Bennett. Right Scoring leather motifs with compass and blade before hand-sculpting. Interview by Rachel Matthews. Photographs by Jasper Fry