Finn Hansen, owner of The Leather Shop in Morro Bay. Photo by Dean Sullivan
By Kathleen Stout
Attics at a grandparent’s house are like precious time capsules. Storehouses of ancestral history; they hold lifetimes of memories inside. Heirlooms, photos, old relics and medals, these items often carry sentimental, and very functional, value. Their hope, perhaps, is that in the future someone in their family will find their stash and retain something of significance, whether that be a cherished photo album, vintage tools, or even something as seemingly insignificant as a bowling bag
When Finn Hansen, owner of The Leather Shop in Morro Bay went digging through his grandparents’ attic one summer vacation, he found such a bag. Inside, it contained an “old rodeo leather kit” that belonged to his uncle. It also contained his destiny.
“I was on summer vacation and was digging around upstairs. If it hadn’t been for that bowling bag,” Finn muses.
It was a time of no internet; no high-speed access to tutorial videos or instant products delivered to your doorstep, so learning about the trade was a challenge. Finn found opportunities to learn by visiting old leather shops along his travels and meeting with veterans in the trade. As his Irish luck would have it, the first leather shop he ever visited, way back in the 90’s, was right here in Morro Bay.
Years later, Finn began his studies at Cal Poly as an engineering student-but he was still deeply intrigued with art of leathercraft. He picked up part-time employment in that very same shop in Morro Bay and eventually ended up buying the shop.
“I liked leather better, and I’ve been here ever since.”
There are no ends to the mysteries of fate.
“The fact that I ended up in Morro Bay where I first found the bag, that’s full circle,” he says.
Jackets, belts, wallets and key chains are only part of the work for sale at The Leather Shop. Photo by Kathleen Stout.
Some thirty odd years later, Finn doesn’t just have skills with leather, he has turned his exquisite designs into a kind of fine art. Never stingy with the details, each and every item he crafts has the stamp of his imaginative aesthetic. He never cuts corners when it comes to putting in the work. One thing you’ll notice about Finn when you enter the store, he carries a kind of enthusiasm for his trade that makes the experience more than just a purchase.
This is a man whose dreams have come true.
Finn is self-taught and for him variety was the key to his motivation. “I begin each day with some different job to do; it’s not ever the same thing. It’s kind of my creative ADD that inspires me, I’m always trying to learn a new craft. Essentially, I’m a kind of hobbyist.”
In addition to leather, Finn crafts using all kinds of materials such as wood, stone and clay. Whatever the project, Finn likes to “get his hands dirty”.
Specializing in a “little bit of everything” Finn is most proud of his tooling and the contributions he has made to many of the costumes used for the Renaissance Faire’s historical recreations.
He recalls a fun project he once designed for a friend’s dashboard on his Jeep, a hand-tooled like an old saddle, complete with a Longhorn cow skull.
Peruse the aisles in his shop and discover there is no end to Finn’s creativity, this is not your average leather store. His shop is a repository of craftsmanship, a museum of specialized hand-tooled pieces, a retail work of distinction. Jackets, belts, wallets and key chains line the walls but take a closer look and notice the leather paintings, medieval shields, rifle cases and one-of-a-kind pieces that can never be replicated. One of his most impressive works is an interpretation of an ancient first century Danish silver platter, adapted into a leather shield with ornate symbols and designs.
Step inside his workshop and be transported into another time, say, 500,000 years ago when primitive man roamed the earth. “Leatherwork is one of the oldest crafts of mankind,” Finn said. “We have been working with tools since the very first humans were around.” Indeed, stone tools for woodworking, leather and metals were some of the very first catalysts in human evolution and launched us out of the stone age into the Byzantine era.
He learned to specialize in his trade by living up to the challenges of his customers wants. He’d get a customer request, and it motivated him to figure it out. “Ok, now I’ve got to learn by working and teaching myself how to do this,” he said. “Doing is the best learning”.
In this writer’s imagination, I’m seeing ancient fires burning, tools of prehistory hammering away in the centuries, tribes of peoples hunting, sewing, fabricating. They also had to learn by doing. They had to learn to survive.
The ancestors were definitely speaking.
As one of the last standing leather shops in California and perhaps the world at large, Finn’s talents for creating custom work in leather can be described as nothing less than a Divine gift. His dedication to this sacred inheritance is apparent in his life’s work and is duly noted as a Morro Bay paragon.
The only challenge is deciding what to buy. Stop in and find your own personal relic at The Leather Shop located at 880 Morro Bay Blvd. They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kathleen Stout is a local artist who counts her blessings daily. When not writing, painting, or helping others, She Sells Seashells on the side.
