About Us

Hi, I'm Giles and I'm a one man band who runs Codman and Belter.

I started working with leather many years ago as a hobby, making small items for personal use and for friends.  Pretty basic stuff but all made by hand as I was fascinated by the traditional techniques used in leather goods production.

I temporarily moved this hobby onto a commercial footing in the mid 2000s as a break from a long IT career.  However the lure back was too strong and I went back for a few years until I finally gave that up in 2017.

At that point I decided to buy a small Sussex craft cider company, which I developed over the next 4 years and then sold on to a group of keen cider makers who are developing it further.  Weird jump I know, but it was a great experience!

I missed the leatherwork, and after a short break I resurrected this and really focused on perfecting the craft.  Months later, after a huge amount of refreshing,  self tuition, planning, and prototyping I'd developed an initial product range which you'll see on this site.  Over time, I will grow this range and if you have any suggestions, please feel free to get in touch.

 There are a few principles I aim to follow with what I do:

  • Make things well using traditional techniques, that honour the leatherwork craft and all the skills that go into producing products by hand
  • Make things that last!  There's so much waste and short termism in the retail world and I want my products to become heirlooms that can be handed down through generations
  • Use high quality materials.  I source my leathers from a great UK supplier, A.A. Crack, who have an incredible range of leathers from around the world.  The majority of metal work I use is supplied by one of the last remaining UK foundries, Abbey England, who follow many of the principles I do of producing high quality, long lasting products.
  • And finally, I want to provide clear and honest customer service to people who appreciate the quality you can find with hand made products

If you want to read a bit more about what I'm about, take a look at blog #1 in the blogs section.