Mammon Handcrafted leather cafe offers patrons a place to learn to make leather products while sipping smoothies.
Word by Sadie Christie ● Images by Linh Chi
Three young people are silently working at Mammon Handcrafted Leather Café’s new location off a still, green lake on Đội Cấn. Their eyes and steady hands are focused on their projects – a bag, a notebook, a wallet. They possess what owner and artisan Nguyễn Tuấn Dũng calls “good hands.” It’s one of the three most important tools you must have, he says, “your hands, your ideas, and patience.” For those who may be missing one or two of these ‘tools’, Dũng is there walking around, enthusiastically lending his own skills. The café-cum-leather workshop provides the rest – a worktable, the leather, accessories and a box of tools.
Wrist-Wallet
Time Spent: 4 Hours
Leather + buttons: 100k
Passion Fruit smoothie: 35k
Inspiration, guidance, and use of tools and space: Free●●
Step One: Choosing your leather
I give in to smelling and touching each roll of leather before deciding on thick pieces of chocolate brown and military green. I’ve chosen cow leather, but crocodile and buffalo leather are also available, all of which Dũng gets from the South of Vietnam or Thailand.
Step 2: Choosing your design
I make it simple on myself and choose one of Dũng’s designs for a finished wrist wallet they have available for purchase in the shop for 400k. To make the wallet yourself costs a quarter of the price.
Dũngdraws out the design for me and I set to work: cutting, cutting crooked, measuring, and cutting again.
Step 3: Sewing and buttons
Learning how to use the technical tools – hammers, line spacers, hole punchers, thick needles and sinewy thread – is the most gratifying part of the experience. I’ve been sitting and working for four hours, but I finally complete my wallet with Dũng’s invaluable assistance. The sun has fallen behind the trees and my fingers are cramped, but I’ve gained a new appreciation for the leather crafters of the world and a pride for the tangible results of my own labour.
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Mammon Handcrafted Leather Café is located at 33, Alley 135 Đội Cấn.
