Local Love Blog Series – The ERL Leather Co.

Welcome back to the Local Love Blog Series!

This week we have the pleasure of featuring an amazing artisan, Emily-Rose Leclerc, of The ERL Leather Company. Emily-Rose is doing amazing, custom leatherwork creating anything from clutches to wallets, postcards to purses, notebooks to sheaths, and so much more.

The ability to choose from a variety of options including carving, stamping, pyrography, molding, dyeing, and painting, each piece Emily-Rose creates is made just so for each client. She can create just about anything, short of original pieces of clothing and horse tack. However, if you have a leather jacket that needs a little bit of extra oomph, Emily-Rose is the girl to call!

With each project being different, inspiration isn’t hard to come by.

Most of her clients come with an idea of a leather good in the back of their mind, and Emily-Rose is the one to put it all together for them. Motivated by seeing the awestruck reactions from her clients when she delivers their finished pieces, it’s easy to see why she keeps going.

It all started when Emily-Rose set out to make her own perfect purse after her go-to started falling apart. Despite spending plenty of time looking for an alternative to her formerly favourite fashion accessory, nothing was measuring up. Eventually, she decided to put her sewing skills to the test and created her own. With a lot of research and a little bit of patience, she successfully created her first leather project in the Yetti Purse, and her love for leatherwork only grew from there. 

Armed with the knowledge of leather sewing and pattern work, the ERL Leather Company was born.

Starting with a few commissions for friends and family, it didn’t take long for Emily-Rose to have enough encouragement to start her business. She was even lucky enough to have a friend in school to become a brand designer and used The ERL Leather Company as her test case for school projects.

She has a dream of being an industry leader in quality leatherwork. Specializing in custom pieces, she hopes to become a household name when it comes to custom leather goods. She’s so confident in her pieces, that The ERL Leather Company offers a lifetime warranty on all leather products for any issues that may arise such as stitching or hardware issues, outside of regular wear and tear.

Emily-Rose is the kind of Bow Valley local that you only rarely encounter.

Originally born in Victoria and spending a bit of time in Quebec as a baby, Emily-Rose landed in Canmore as a toddler and has made the Bow Valley her home ever since. With summers spent on her family farm in Quebec, she found the perfect balance.

Being such a long-time local, Emily Rose has plenty of local shout-outs to make!

Starting with some local artisans, Emily-Rose loves the candles from The Wick’d Candles, the fine yarns and luxury handknits from Pearl Knits, and beautiful jewelry from Mountain Adornment. She also loves to good work being done at Wapiti Sports, Café Books, and Arctic Fox Woodworking. And of course, as an animal lover with feline friends of her own, Emily-Rose wanted to make a mention of the amazing work of the Bow Valley SPCA.

Emily-Rose is passionate and excited about her craft.

She’s excited to see how her business will grow and is committed to learning throughout the process. Her leatherwork is available in three local shops already so you can go find it at Wapiti Sports, Positive Healing, and Prohibition Barber & Bourbon Room. Otherwise, you can contact her for custom orders online, or connect with her through Instagram and Facebook. Make sure to give her a follow and stay up to date with her amazing leatherwork projects!

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