Hello All, I'd like to introduce myself and tell you about how I started leather-crafting. My name is Marina and I'm currently living in the centre of Italy in a little town by the sea but my full-time employer is in London so I might have to move to the UK at the end of the year. I decided to give leather-crafting a try at the beginning of the COVID pandemic after a thought-provoking conversation with a friend. We were discussing about jobs, careers, and next steps (until then I'd been successfully following the common path of Undergraduate Degree --> Master's Degree --> Corporate job), when my friend asked me to imagine what I'd like to do if I were rich. I thought about it and said, I'd open a leather-goods studio! He accurately pointed out that all the plans I was making for myself had nothing to do with leather-crafting, and that they probably wouldn't make me happy. That's what pushed me to buy my first 30 Euro leather-crafting starter kit on Amazon. The first leather wallet I made was the wonkiest, ugliest wallet I'd ever seen but I enjoyed the process so much that I just couldn't stop thinking about my next creation. And that's how my leather journey started in May 2020. One year later, I asked my family to gift me this online course as my birthday gift. I'm looking forward to learning all the techniques and making them mine (10,000 hours I know 😅). The videos I've seen until now are all masterpieces and Phil is a genius and excellent teacher. I'm documenting my journey on instagram @still.leather.goods. If you want to be leather-crafting friends, drop your insta in the comments 😉 Hope to get to know other leather-crafting enthusiasts. Best wishes Marina Ps. I'm attaching pictures of a couple of my beginner creations :)