Ideal Leather Works

Ideal Leather Works is located up on the first floor of Kitab Mahal. If you’ve ever walked down Dr. D. N. Road in the Fort area, you know how crowded and old those buildings are. Kitab Mahal has that classic Mumbai feel to it, with the high ceilings and the old-fashioned stairs. When you walk into our space, the first thing you notice is the smell of leather. It’s a strong, earthy scent that stays on your clothes even after you leave. We’ve got benches covered in hides and various tools for cutting and stitching. It’s manual work, and it can be tough on the hands. Fort is a hectic place to be, with all the office workers and tourists rushing around outside. Up here, it’s a bit of a different world. We focus on the textures and the way the material feels. It’s not always perfect; sometimes a piece of leather has a mark or the color isn't quite what we expected, but that's part of working with natural stuff. We don't have a big marketing team or a fancy showroom. It's just us in an old building, doing what we've been taught to do. The windows look out over the street, and sometimes we just watch the chaos below while we work. It’s a steady rhythm that we’ve kept up for quite some time now.