A journal is not unlike a forest - dense with memory, shadowed with meaning, alive with things just out of sight. Thoughts wind through its pages like paths between trees, looping back, doubling over, disappearing into quiet clearings. Some notes stand tall and certain, like ancient trunks. Others are just beginning - tender shoots, easily missed.
Like the forest, a your best thoughts and ideas don’t offer up the whole story at once. They reveal themselves slowly, in layers. What’s written today might not be understood until much later, when the light shifts. Forest Keep is made for this kind of depth - a place to hold what grows, what rests, and what’s waiting to be found.
THE INSPIRATION: Themes of Nature
The inspiration for Forest Keep builds naturally on the ongoing connection to nature and the outdoors - a theme that runs consistently throughout my work. Every piece I make is rooted in nature, from the materials I choose, to the way I celebrate the natural characteristics by letting the leather speak for itself.
With this collection, I wanted to celebrate that raw beauty directly. The live edge front pockets have become a central feature - uncut, unshaped, left exactly as the leather came. Like fallen bark or a rough-hewn path, these natural, unique edges remind us that not everything needs refining to be beautiful. They're unpredictable, imperfect, and honest.
THE PROCESS: From First Cut to the Final Piece
Every piece begins with selection - choosing just the right part of the hide for texture, character, and composition. From there, each step is done by hand: cutting each piece, punching every hole, sewing it together, finishing the edges, and adding any last touches needed to make it a complete work of art. No machines, no shortcuts, just hand work and attention to detail. The result is a piece that’s not only functional, but full of intention, made to last, and to grow with you.
THE NAME: The Forest Keep - Root & Canopy
In every forest, there is a quiet balance between what holds and what protects - between the roots that anchor and the canopy that shelters. This collection takes its name, Forest Keep, from that relationship: the way the forest keeps us - grounded and protected, deeply rooted and gently held.
Root represents the unseen strength beneath our feet. Grounding - in place, in memory, in self, steady through storms. A symbol of resilience and deep connection. Root brown notebooks reflect stability, strength, and dependability, like the roots of a tree that’s stood for decades.
Canopy, by contrast, is what reaches. It’s the green overhead that catches the light, breaks the wind, and offers shelter. Protective but open - filtering sun and rain, creating space to breathe. Canopy green notebooks represent shelter, safety and renewal, and a place for ideas to unfurl like leaves toward sky.
Together, Root and Canopy are complementary - a system. One holds, while the other protects. They capture the layered experience of walking through the woods, from the forest floor to the sky above, and remind us that beauty lives in every part of the landscape.
Traveller’s Style, Nature’s Spirit
Each piece in the Forest Keep collection is crafted from full-grain leather that’s meant to evolve - gaining depth, flexibility, and character with every season of use. Like bark weathered by wind, or moss gathering along a well-worn trail, the marks that appear over time aren’t damage, they’re growth rings.
The designs are intentionally simple and sturdy, built to be companions, not ornaments. As you carry them, they’ll take on your story - scuffs, scratches, and patina forming a record as personal as the words written inside. No two will age the same, and that’s the beauty of it.
There’s a kind of rhythm and mediation to making a batch like this - stitching, burnishing, inspecting.
The Final Collection: More Than Just Covers
After weeks of planning, from paper, to the workbench, to the photography studio, the result is a collection I’m incredibly proud of. These aren’t just notebook covers - they’re containers for field notes, personal essays, sketches, secrets, and more. They’re meant to accompany you, whether into the forest, or simply through the pages of your day.
Each journal cover is an invitation to return: to write, to reflect, to keep what matters. Whether you’re drawn to the grounded pull of the forest floor or the hush of leaves overhead, Forest Keep is built to last and made to hold the story you’re growing.
Thanks for taking the time to read about the Forest Keep collection. It means a lot to be able to share the story behind my work!
As a thank you, here’s 10% OFF any and all pieces from this collection.*
Use code: FOREST10 at checkout.
*Limit one use per customer. Not valid with any other offers.