Kattasche is a small leather atelier based in the beautiful Illawarra region of the South Coast NSW. I specialise in designing and making bespoke fine leather bags and accessories that are traditionally saddle stitched by hand, made with the best and carefully curated materials from Australian and international suppliers and created for longevity.

My leatherwork is the confluence of my twenty-five year experience as an artist working across a wide range of projects in the performing and visual arts. A traditional apprentice-ship as a dressmaker in Germany fuelled a passion for high quality craft and was a great foundation for a degree in theatre design at Central Saint Martins in London. In Australia I have been designing sets and costumes for theatre and exhibitions (including for companies such as Belvoir, Sydney Festival, The Maritime Museum and others) as well as managing costume props workrooms on feature films.

I fell in love with leather as a working material whilst making belts and armour for the Narnian Navy and George Miller’s War Boys. In 2020 I up-skilled in traditional French leather craft and transformed my online Etsy shop into a studio for bespoke leather goods. Kattasche brings together my desire for creating with her hands; my sensibilities as a costume designer when I co-create a bespoke bag with a client; and my passion for sustaining our beautiful planet and heritage crafts.