About

My name is Louis Gianfrancesco and this is the story of how my brand was born.

 

I discovered Leather Craft through one of my Tutors whilst studying the Foundation Degree at Central Saint Martins. My first experience with this wonderful material, involved it being wet moulded around a Brass ring; where it was saddle stitched using a rotary pricking wheel, a diamond awl, polyester thread and two needles.

 

Ever since that day, I have spent countless hours watching, learning, creating and investing into this craft. Something inside just pushed me to focus solely on this discipline and nothing else. I felt blessed that I had something I could immerse myself into, whilst feeling such a level of gratifcation during each stage of the process.

With time, there has been a tremedous elevation in regards to my skillset, techniques, ethos and knowledge. I have been able to design, craft and produce Leather goods which I have sold all over the world.

 

I believe that the method of my practices, embodies admirable, esteemable and  exemplary qualities which create products of sustenance and integrity.

 

  

When we look at most commercial, mass produced Leather Products, we more often than not see a flawless, smooth textured leather with no blemishes or marks. Why is this?

This is due to the fact that most commercial Leather Goods have the top layer of the skin shaved off, which the industry calls a 'Corrected Grain'.

 

Real Full Grain Leather does not embody such characteristics.

 

 Marks and scars are what make Leather, Leather. It has natural blemishes such as stretch marks, inconsistency in the surface of the leather, grain differences, veins, insect bites and lighter or darker shading, just to name a few.

 

This is what makes Leather beautiful. It should be celebrated, not corrected.

 

Here is an informational graph beneath, to show the composition of Leather, which is made up of the “Full Grain, Top Grain, Corium and Flesh Side.”

 

  

I wanted to create a brand that embodies and represents the real charactersitcs of Leather; which is where the name 'Tort' comes in.

'Corrected Grain' is the term used for Leather that has the Grain shaved, corrected or finished and the opposite of correct, is wrong. 

My style of Leather Work is very French and Traditional.

Therefore, I wanted to combine a French name that embodied the imperfections of Leather and after using Google Translate, I found the French word for Wrong.

Thus, the name Tort was born.

So ‘Tort’ is our way of creating dialogue about how someone might see a mistake in the skins we use and think it needs correcting, but we beg to differ.