Ashwini Leather Art

Ashwini Leather Art is tucked away at 46 A Veera Desai Road. People usually know this part of Dharavi for all the heavy work and manufacturing that goes on every single day. The smell of raw leather is the first thing you notice when you walk into our small space. It’s a heavy, earthy smell that seems to stay on your clothes long after you leave the shop. We have piles of different hides stacked up in the corners, waiting to be cut and shaped into something. The workspace is a bit cramped because we have so many hand tools and rolls of material taking up the floor space. There is a lot of banging, cutting, and stitching noises throughout the entire day. We don't have a receptionist or a fancy lobby area for people to wait in. You just walk right in and you'll see us working at the wooden benches. The windows are quite small, so we have to use bright electric lamps to see what we are doing with the needles and thread. It’s hard work on the hands, and by the time we finish, our fingers are usually pretty sore and tired. Living and working in the heart of Dharavi means there's never a moment of pure silence, but we've grown to like the energy of the neighborhood. We’ve been at this for some time now, and the shop feels like home. It’s not a fancy gallery, just a real place for work.