Business Spotlight: Kasey Jean Leather Designs
When Kasey Jean walked into that local boot makers shop when she was 16 to ask if she could learn from him, she really never thought she would turn that craft into a business. All she wanted to do was learn how to make a breast collar and a headstall for her horse. Funny, because she’s made little to no horse tack at all since starting Kasey Jean Leather Designs.
“The first thing about leatherwork that I fell in love with was dying belts. Art was always my favorite class in school, specifically using water colors. Leather dye was similar to water color as it bleeds and rushed across the surface of your project.” Kasey said. “You know when you are first learning a new skill and you are just so infatuated with it that you can’t think about anything else? It’s almost like your in a meditation. I liked that.” The last job Kasey had before going full time with leatherwork was from 18-19 years old at a bank. “I remember so desperately wanting a ‘real job’ after I graduated.” she says. “Something I could tell adults I did and they would think it was an admirable grown up job.” She had barely gotten her feet wet in the “real world” of working when she quit without a plan. She knew there had to be something out there that would suit her better!
From there, Kasey really dove into her leather work. “I had always kept up with it since starting when I was 16, but it was really just a hobby I did every now and then. After quitting the bank I spent a lot more time on it though. By no means at all had I replaced my bank income with leather work at the point that I quit. Looking back it sounds rather unintelligent for sure, but that’s what I did!” she said. She was, however, getting a few orders here and there for wallets and small items which made her think she could potentially make something out of it. Her now husband, then boyfriend Donovan, was an electrician. For him to get his journeyman’s license they had to move to the town of Roseburg Oregon. With him being gone a lot with work and the fact that she hardly knew anyone there, she decided she had two choices, “I either could sit around writing him love letters, missing him and being sad that I didn’t have anyone around or I could put everything I had into my craft and make something out of this.” Kasey said. She chose option two, and cue Kasey Jean Leather Designs.
KJLD was built upon taking custom orders, the largest portion of the business still being custom work. They do belts, wallets, earrings, clutch wallets, purses, shave bags, watch bands and hat patches. Kasey says her favorite thing about custom work is working with brides. “Making them a whole set; A belt for their groom, a wedding bouquet wrap for them, champagne flute wraps, a hip belt or garter belt, gifts for the bridesmaids and groomsmen. It’s really fun to have a small part in someone’s special day! You can feel their excitement through your conversations and that’s really a enjoyable energy to work around!” All of the custom work at Kasey Jean Leather Designs starts with a sketch right onto the leather. This ensures that each and every person always gets a completely unique design. Kasey is passionate about making other people’s visions come to life. “My goal is to bring your vision to life through custom work. It’s important for me to work with each of my customers until we get it just right for them and make sure it’s something they absolutely love!” she said. “Customers are welcome to message me through Instagram or my website anytime to brainstorm ideas and get a quote. No time is ever wasted and no question is silly!”
Kasey Jean Leather Designs also offers laser engraving, as well as silver set jewelry. For business owners who would like to order hats in a larger quantity, at a lower price point, laser engraving is a great option. “At KJLD we love tooling leather, but sometimes we simply can’t get the intricate details of someone’s logo onto a small area. Laser engraving is amazing at picking up every little detail to make sure your logo is showcased in the best way!” Kasey explained. As far as silver set jewelry goes, Kasey recently started working is KS Silver and Co. “I come up with the designs for the silver settings, Kaylei makes them and sends them my way. I set them myself, but that’s as far as my silver smithing abilities go.” Her silver set pieces do not stay in stock long. “Silver set pieces are my best and quickest selling items. We’ve made square stud earrings, bar necklaces and hoops.We have some fun new ideas for designs that I am really excited to bring to life! We have an exclusive partnership currently I’m the only one she makes blank settings for.”
When asked about the KJLD courses she offers, Kasey explained, “As my accounts continued to grow so did the amount of people reaching out asking what tools and paints this or that, that I’m using.” she said. “At first it was easy to keep up with the questions and I was happy to answer them! However, it was really starting to take away a lot of my time. When I help someone I’m sending them videos and links and long voice messages really trying to make sure I’m not leaving them hanging.” She knew eventually that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the this at risk of losing time for her own personal work. That is why she started the Kasey Jean Leather Design courses. These courses are designed to help other leather makers, new and seasoned, to expand their knowledge and learn a few new tricks. “If I was going to make this course I wanted to do it right.” Kasey said. “I reached out to McFarland Productions who just so happened to also live in Roseburg who became a friend over working together. We were both so surprised that we happened to live in the same town.” Professionally filmed and with high sound quality, they created a beautiful course with over 30 lessons, some in video form, others that Kasey herself has written. The courses include things like how to use all of your basic tools, where to buy those tools, every type of leather Kasey uses for all of her projects and where to buy them, how to dye, paint, resist and antique projects properly.. and of course where to buy all of that. “I go right down to the product number for the ear wire I buy for my earrings! I did not hold back on this thing. I wanted to answer any and all questions I would get in my DMs and then some. I wanted to pack this course with as much value as possible.” Kasey said. The course also provides eight step by step guides to make her most popular projects.
Kasey says that there’s no way KJLD would exist if it wasn’t for all the other jobs and harder times she has been through before reaching the point that KJLD is at now. “During that time I got to choose who I spent my days with. I chose to spend time with entrepreneurs and businessmen, investors and marketers through YouTube videos and audio books. Those 4 years really set me up and I’m so thankful for them. I fell in love with waking up before the sun, making myself a coffee and heading into my little shop room still in my pajamas, turning on a audiobook and just working my leather all day long.” Fast forward to today, Kasey has a shop in Prineville Oregon. The shop has 3 different sewing machines down stairs, a big machine typically used for making boots with several different buffing wheels, a couple large tables and a room dedicated to packing and shipping. “Upstairs Dillon, another apprentice the man Kasey worked for had about a year before her who now works at the her shop, each have big tooling areas, a large cutting table, dying area and then about 100 sq ft they haven’t even expanded into. “It’s funny because 100 sq ft is what I was working out of for years.” Kasey said. “Sometimes I really don’t know how I made the things I did out of the area I was working in.” Kasey has plans to host what she calls “Leather Nights” there. “Kind of like those paint and sip nights where you paint and drink wine? But with beer and leather!” she said. “I’ll also be doing one on one lessons there.”
