Anchor Leathers

Working out of 57 Thiruneermalai Road in the Nagalkeni area means we are right in the middle of the leather hub here in Chromepet. Our space isn't huge, but it fits everything we need to get the job done. Every morning starts with opening the shutters and letting the air in, though the street noise starts pretty early. Most of the time, we are busy with the machines or checking the quality of the different batches that come in. It’s a hands-on kind of place. There are no fancy offices or air-conditioned rooms, just the workshop floor where all the cutting and stitching happens. We’ve seen the road change a lot over the years, with new shops coming and going, but we’ve stayed put at this same spot. The locals know us as the place that just gets on with things. It’s a lot of physical labor, and by the end of the day, everyone is pretty tired. We usually wrap things up as the sun starts to go down and the traffic on Thiruneermalai Road gets even heavier. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s what we know how to do. Nagalkeni has a specific rhythm to it, and we are just one part of that. We try to keep things organized, even when the shop gets crowded with orders. The big table in the middle is where most of the work happens. It’s scratched and worn down from years of leather being dragged across it. We usually keep the windows closed to keep the street grit out, but it gets pretty warm inside. We have a small fridge for our water and lunch boxes in the corner. It’s not the most modern setup, but we’ve never needed much more than our tools and a bit of space. Chromepet has a lot of places like ours, but we just focus on what’s right in front of us.