Inside the Leather Shop at Colorado Springs’s Ranchlands, Where American Craft Meets Modern Design

When Tess Leach and her sister were little girls, their dad, a lifelong rancher who goes by Big Duke, used to give them handmade presents. They were carved leather bags, the half-circle kind that ranchers typically use to carry a tea canister or various other supplies for a day out riding. Duke Phillips was born on a ranch in Mexico and learned the craft of leather making from old-line professionals who would pass through to help fix bridles or tacks. He picked up his skills quickly and practiced for years, later bequeathing some of his experiments to his daughters. Today, Leach, her brother, and father run the family’s ranch management company, Ranchlands, in Colorado Springs.

The trio owns a lease on the property of the Chico Basin, and they host visitors on holiday: young students and interns and apprentices eager to learn about ranching and land conservation. They also operate Ranchlands Mercantile, where they sell their leather goods. Though the leather itself doesn’t come from their ranch: they receive most of it from Horween Leather Company in Chicago, which is the oldest family-owned tannery in the country. Ranchlands Mercantile is also supported by Nest, a New York–based non-profit that helps cultivate sustainable businesses run by independent artisans around the world. Nest helps streamline the manufacturing process and has provided design input so that the bags, while based on practical ranching equipment, appeal to a wide range of customers. Indeed, their new collectsion of tanned leather satchels would look just as cool walking through downtown Manhattan as on horseback. “We’ve gotten to the point now where we’ve really defined our shop more clearly and we’ve just finished these new designs,” Leach says. “They really round out the collectsion, and I think we’re becoming more than just a resource for ranchers. Now, our leather business seems a little more thoughtful and intentional. We’re ready to push it out in a bigger way.”

Here’s a look inside the ranch, from the craft table where the resident dog Tickles surveys the work to the land outside being tended by a new generation who wants to keep American ranching and leather-making traditions alive.