Feature Friday The Story of Barney

When we first moved into our current home, one of the first people to greet us was a neighbor named Barney. He was an older gentleman, kind, thoughtful, and generous. He shared stories about the neighborhood, the house, and even brought over fresh vegetables from his garden.

At that time, I hadn’t started working with leather. I was just a dad, a husband, and a humble worker bee trying to do right by my family.

Fast forward about ten years. I was a couple of years into my leather journey, setting up a small booth at the town craft fair, making keychains and small goods. Barney stopped by.

We chatted for a while, and he told me how everyone at work was using Blackberries now. But not him. He still preferred to carry 3x5 index cards in his back pocket. Old school. Reliable. Simple. Then he asked, “You think you could make something to hold these?”

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I went home and started sketching. I landed on a simple fold-over design, something like a minimalist wallet but sized for his index cards. I added a little tooling to it, carving blackberry vines across the flap and the word “BarneyBerry” on the front.

It started as a bit of a joke. But when I handed it to him, he cried.

That was the moment it clicked.

This craft isn’t just about leather. It’s about people. About stories. About meaning. That simple wallet wasn’t just a tool to carry paper. It was made for him. It was his.

The BarneyBerry might not matter to anyone else. But to Barney, it was everything. RIP Barney, we miss you my brother.

And for me, it changed everything.

It was the beginning of creating with intention.

The start of Legacy Leather, in spirit if not in name.