Jin Zhenyu, A Handmade Cobbler After 80: Release The Vitality Of Leather

Advocating primitive and returning to nature is a longing for urban residents.

In China, there are a group of young people who are similar to Jin Zhenyu and have the same dream. They find the psychological needs of urbanites returning to nature, so they take all their savings and devote themselves to the creation of handmade leather products.

"Handmade and unique leather goods are my luxury."

In September 20th, Jin Zhenyu told reporters about his dream while operating the leather cutting machine.

Some people say that walking on the streets of New York will find one of the four women carrying hermes handbags.

With the expansion of the global luxury market, the improvement of production technology and the pfer of consumer groups to the general public, more and more luxury goods can be produced in large quantities in factories, and they are becoming more and more popular.

At the same time, once the world famous brand began to lose its symbolic value indicating the status of rich and dignitary.

On the contrary, in crowded hand-made workshops, the pictures of teachers stooping down and flying around the needle seem to have become popular again.

Jin Zhenyu, who is nearly 1.80 meters tall, lives in a studio all day. He sits under the lamp, and the scene of sewing his wallet and backpack with embroidery needles is impressive.

But it is unthinkable that he used to study international economics and trade, and then did window display in a clothing company in Shanghai.

By chance, Jin Zhenyu came into contact with hand-made leather products and began to obsessed with this simple craft.

"I worked with the factory teacher for six months and began to try my own production.

It has been 5 years since we went out of sewing stitches, and now we have done enough work.

Coincidentally, Wu Jia, who runs leather goods stores in Beijing, fell in love with this business because he saw a hand-made wallet on micro-blog.

After making up his mind, Wu Jia gave up rock and roll, cut short hair, backed up his knapsack, and came to Beijing to learn the craft of hand-made leather goods.

In the winter of 2011, Wu Jia rented a small house near Beijing Institute Of Fashion Technology and studied and tailored and stained with his teacher.

"It's very cold in the room in winter. It takes a long time to get needles and hands, but there are chilblain in hands. It can't hold tools at all, but I never thought of giving up."

Wu Jia recalls.

The seemingly simple handbag needs to be sculpted through complex handwork and refinement.

The sewing of each handbag is completed by a master from beginning to end. It takes about 20~25 hours.

The handbag button is engraved with the number of the producer, which means that the producer will also be responsible for the after-sale maintenance work of the product.

Although similar leather production takes several days, months or even longer, consumers do not mind that they are willing to wait patiently.

In Jin Zhenyu's shop, a leather bag is expected to wait for about 15 days, drawing, cutting, sewing, and shaping. Every step is a craftsman's work.

"I personally attach more importance to the overall feeling of the work, so we must grasp the shape and appearance of the whole.

The details are very important. The rounded treatment of the edges, the polishing of the edges, and so on, will make the whole leather a grade.

This is the charm of hand-made leather.

Every time I buy a bag at the store, the reporter always hears Jin Zhenyu's feelings for hand-made leather goods.

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The handmade leather is also very good for the choice of raw leather.

"As long as we have good leather on the top, import is better."

Wu Jia is very strict with leather materials. He usually selects the raw leather from the wholesale city of leather products. There are many kinds of leather materials that can meet the needs.

In order to get a better raw leather, Wu Jia often "cheers the wholesale dealer's first hand source".

A good horse is fitted with a saddle to identify the advantages and disadvantages of leather goods. Besides looking at the design and material, it also depends on accessories.

Jin Zhenyu introduced to reporters in detail: "single line, there are French lines, Japanese lines, and the production of Ferrari interior special German line."

At the same time, he also pays great attention to leather hardware.

"Do not belittle the hardware on this wallet, they are all sterling silver. The zipper I used is the Swiss RIRI brand, which is a special zipper for luxury bags in the world."

Jin Zhenyu said.

Finding new fashions to inherit tradition

Jin Zhenyu was first known in 2012, when his shop was just opened and his business was cold. He only wanted to earn monthly rent. Now, his team has 3 members.

Jin Zhenyu and Wu Jia are relatively free to work, which is what many of them are like after 80.

But freedom does not mean that there are no rules. They will make monthly, weekly or even daily tasks for themselves, and then execute them according to plan.

Jin Zhenyu told reporters that partners were responsible for the production, and his energy was mainly focused on store marketing and product design.

However, because the manual production is slow, and gradually can not keep up with the speed of fast physical sales, so now the shop business model has gradually evolved into customized services.

Jin Zhenyu only enjoys 2 weeks of vacation a year and keeps them in the store every day.

"This job is my interest, and it has a good income. I am very lucky."

He said that the university students' houses were all sponsored by their parents, but his cottage was very hard on their own.

Jin Zhenyu and Wu Jia share a common dream when their career has entered a stable period. "Let more people recognize traditional handmade and inherit classic skills".

"Although many customers like my leather goods, they always compare the handmade bags with the line production. Although the brands are famous, they lack life and personality."

Wu Jia hopes to create his own leather brand.

"Fashion is to deviate from tradition and spread more points, but not to go too far. The key is whether we can grasp the yardstick.

Just subverting tradition and being accepted, it is fashion; deviating too much is not to accept, it is weird.

I think only through market reaction can we get a relatively accurate answer.

Jin Zhenyu hopes to have more opportunities to contact European and American designers to learn more about the trend of leather.