Small Business Saturday: More than goods, Craft and Lore contributes to local culture

Navigating through the tiny parking lot, I nearly slam into a row of parked cars.

The building looks like a giant industrial factory, sectioned into a strip mall of local businesses. A printed logo on the glass door reads, ”Craft and Lore — Leather and Dry Goods.” A middle-aged man greets me in the doorway. A camera dangles from his neck as he visually frames his next shot. He realizes his 3:30 appointment arrived, and he graciously greets me with a firm handshake. With a brisk exchange of names, he moves a workshop cart covered in scrap leather out of the way in order to allow my entrance into the shop.

The lights are dim and the air is filled with the smell of freshly woven leather. The spotlights illuminate all four walls of the 20-by-40-foot showroom. An abundance of finely handcrafted products fill the shelved walls: leather handbags, totes, wallets, belts and even genuine leather boots are on display.

I stand in awe, overwhelmed at the thought of having this entire room of leather products at my fingertips.

Hundreds of hours of laborious leatherwork coat the insides of the store. Chad, the photographer, and I proceed into an open hallway, peering into each room as we advance through the facility. We first approach Chad’s office, where he describes the business more in depth. He nervously sways in place as he speaks.

"When I first started the company in 2014, it was for fun, mainly," he says. "I made leather wallets for friends, but I really enjoyed digital graphics and marketing on social media, so I created the company to practice my skills as a marketer. It caught attention and grew the business into kind of what it is today."

His office appears uninteresting, apart from his collection of work piled on his desk. We proceed to the manufacturing part of the 2,500-square-foot building. A door to the left leads to a contrast of rustic leather and shiny, stainless steel tabletop machines that are being strategically run by the most recent member of the Craft and Lore team, Tyler. To my right, another door leads to an open room with a leather boot project sprawled on a live oak wood workbench.

The short tour concludes and I am finally led into the room where all the magic happens — the production room. The aroma of leather grows stronger with every whiff. An enormous table surrounded by barstools presents itself as the centerpiece of the vaulted ceiling room. A big, burly man sits at a desk attached to the wall. He sifts through emails on a computer when all of a sudden he senses my presence and cheerfully turns around as Chad slips out of the room.

"Hey, you must be Carson! I’m Mike. I was the one that contacted you about coming in today. I see you have met Chad!” he joyfully says. His short black hair matches his perfectly groomed beard.

He carries a warm grizzly bear personality that lights up at every question I ask. He makes me feel welcome and like I belong.

I continue our conversation: "How do you believe Craft and Lore will grow, or do you plan to expand out to other places besides Coeur d’Alene?"

He ponders for a second.

"We’ve always grown this business slowly," he says. "We’re always apprehensive of adding new product. We take our time with each design. We test each design. We make sure it’s something that really fits the brand … We want it to grow the business slow enough to where we can keep and maintain, you know, the quality standards and still have fun doing this. We have no intention to turn this into a full, you know, production facility-type operation. This is done out of love. Chad and I love doing this work. Tyler loves designing and building. And that’s the way we want to keep it."

I never realized the importance of the company’s role in the community until then. Its role is to help locals connect with one another in ways that would otherwise be non-existent.

Mike clues me in a little bit more on what a normal day in the office looks like by revealing "the funny thing about being an entrepreneur is that it’s a lot of work."

"A day for me can start from the moment I wake up to answering emails, phone calls, customer service stuff, preparing lists for ordering or for production, preparing myself for the day of what tasks I have," he says. "I use the notes on my phone quite often … Then it kind of moves from there to whatever fires have to be put out.”

With that quote, I begin to wrap up my things and thank Mike once again for his time.

One more thought pops into my mind as I begin to walk back to the showroom. I mention to Mike that my dad wants to buy a wallet and asked if I could buy one while there. With a smile, Mike motions me over to a wooden bin labeled “Odds and Ends.” He ruffles through the discarded leather for a few seconds until he draws out an oddly cut piece of leather. It looks brand new except for about 40 evenly spaced stitching pin holes. He effortlessly folds the leather scrap into a “port” wallet, a custom design of Craft and Lore. He creases and folds it like origami paper. He then gifts me the wallet, free of charge, for my dad.

"And you are going to make it,” he announces. In astonishment, I choose the thread color and begin after a brief lesson on stitching. About 10 minutes later, I tie off the string and conclude with Mike’s help.

He wraps up by leaving me with one more thought as I passionately embrace my surroundings.

"We encourage people to work with their hands again like they used to," he says. "In the digital age, so many people are not reading books anymore. They’re not consuming any information. They’re not trying. They’re not being, you know, artistic. They’re not exploring. They’re not getting outside. And so, the brand is more than just a leather goods brand. It’s really a push into this world of makers and artists, and we’re just happy to be a part of that."

I reflected on my visit to Craft and Lore and began to comprehend the relevant significance of local businesses. Without them, our town’s personality would be weak and our country would be run by heartless machines. With just three employees, Craft and Lore impacts the heart and soul of our local town with the blood, sweat and tears within the leather goods that are meticulously forged by hand. I’m excited to see how Craft and Lore continues to collaborate with the city of Coeur d’Alene to further unite our community through fine workmanship.

Craft and Lore is at 3909 N. Schreiber Way, Coeur d'Alene.

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Carson Magee is a Coeur d’Alene High School junior and co-editor of the CHS yearbook staff.