Leather, candles and stuffed mice: introducing the TINCT Workshop

After a triumphant pop-up in Chelsea last month, the rapidly rising stars of the leather-bag world, Tinct, are back with a crafty new venture in the newly launched Southwark arts-and-eating hotspot, Flat Iron Square. From Thursday, 20 October, Rosie and Ben Broad and the Tinct team will be taking over the ground floor of the grand, grade II-listed Devonshire House with the Tinct Workshop, a pop-up bag and accessory shop showcasing their full range of rainbow-toned leather goods, and transforming into a cocktail-fuelled, have-a-go crafting space by night. 

As well as the full range of Tinct leather products, the shop features pieces furniture folk Byron & Gomez, ceramicist Tilly Hemmingway and candle/body product-makers Milkwood, so even if you don’t happen to need a vegetable-tanned Italian leather cross-body bag right now (although we suspect you do), it’s worth popping along to schmooze with the stellar line-up of design brands on show – and of course, to make the most of the cornucopia of food stalls next door.

We cornered founder Rosie Broad for the low-down on the pop-up…

It was BRILLIANT on so many levels, and we learnt a shedload in the process. Having that physical presence is so important for a product and a brand like ours. Being able to let people properly interrogate the product and appreciate the materials and the quality of manufacturing makes a huge difference, as our products are inherently tactile. Plus they smell wonderful, which the website won’t convey no matter how hard we push Mark our developer….

Secondly, being able to meet customers, introduce ourselves and strike up proper conversations allows people to see what we’re all about in a way that no amount of social media-ing will ever be able to achieve. 

 

We’d known about Flat Iron Square for some time as it’s being spearheaded by an extended family member, Benj. He and his wife Christian have been developing the space for the last year or so, and in so doing they’ve been creating what is destined to be one of London’s coolest new venues. It’s a smorgasbord of foodie hangouts, bars, a music venue, art gallery, and weekly market – literally all of the good things in life. There was a small retail space going begging for the weeks running up to Christmas and Benj liked what we had managed to create in Chelsea, and so things went from there.

 

We’ll have the full collection on display, but it’s a great opportunity for us to breath life into the brand with other props and window dressing. We’ll also have our in-store embossing service, so customers can personalise their items with whatever takes their fancy. We really do love seeing people make our products their own. So far, rude words rule! 

As well as our own collection, we have other brands involved – some friends and others who we have reached out to as we feel our products sit interestingly together.

The workshops are the biggest development from the Chelsea shop, and they’ll be playing a big part in what we’re up to. As part of the drive to get the most out of the space and invite people in, we’ve curated a calendar of evening workshops, with one or two happening each week. As avid crafters and lovers of making, we didn’t feel the need to be restricted by only hosting activities that were directly related to our products, which allowed us to be free to cast our ideas a little wider when deciding what to do. There was also the seasonal consideration; as the nights draw in and Christmas begins to ramp up, we wanted to host events which we felt that people would actually want to turn up to – who doesn’t want to learn how to make a festive mouse?

 

We’re working with a wonderful lady in France called Karen, who has been creating beautiful handmade leather dog collars and leads for 35 years. Whisky [the Tinct dog] is a real fan, so his enthusiasm sparked us to partner up. We’ll have a selection of pieces available that will make fantastic gifts in the run-up to Christmas, particularly with the embossing machine at the ready...

 

We’ve been having exciting and interesting chats with the amazing design store Clerkenwell London about doing an active window installation in the run-up to Christmas. All being well, we will be setting up the window embossing against this amazing bright graphic room designed by Camille Walala. It should make for an awesome visual contrast. 

The Tinct shop opens from 11am to 7pm each day from 20 October onwards, running later when there’s a workshop on. On Sunday 23rd, Flat Iron Square hosts an all-day event, including live music, food, drink and the launch of its flea market. Head to: 

Devonshire House


Flat Iron Square


68 Union Street

London 

SE1 1TD

(No need to bring your own mice).