MISTER NATURAL

 Mister Natural was once, in his youth, a caterer on cruise ships.  He joined the Merchant Navy at the age of  17 because he loved the sea, had a sense of adventure and enjoyed the opportunity of seeing the world and meeting people from all areas and walks of life, both on board ship and at stopping points. His interest in making leather goods stemmed from one particular cruise ship experience which I'm gonna relate despite his desperate attempts to thwart me, because I'm a typical awkward female and I'm making his website...so off we go....

The experience in question was that of cruising back and forth from Norfolk (Virginia) to Bermuda on a fairly regular basis with  two day breaks at Bermuda.  There came a time that he became strangely bored with the usual way young men spend their time on gorgeous sunny beaches in places that the rest of us would all LOVE to be at - and who can blame us when you consider the weather we have to put up with and so he wandered round to a local leather shop and got chatting to the hard working but friendly leather craftsmen, listening to their stories, playing chess with them and that kind of thing, but also generally watching them at work.  He asked one of the craftsmen whether he could try his hand at making a leather belt and he was chucked a hide and given the go-ahead. 

Miraculously, that famous (or infamous) first piece of leather work produced by Mister Natural was not at all bad. In fact the craftsmen decided that it was actually pretty good and so let this young seaman try his hand at no end of leathery bits and pieces, so keeping him out of the pubs and clubs that are usually connected with signs of a misspent youth.

On the trips from Bermuda back to the States, the young sailor started spending his wages on pieces of leather and tools purchased at  stops in the US to wile away those boring nights on board the cruise ship when he wasn't on duty.  He found that there was a bonus to doing so as he could make a few pennies here and there with his belts and wrist bands and other stuff.

He eventually got assigned to other ships and occasionally took leather and tools on board with him and repeated it all over again.  In 1975 he decided to settle down  as near to UK dry land as he could (without getting completely out of the water) to be back near his family and friends and he currently lives on a boat which, when time allows, he takes out to sea risking life and limb in an attempt to see if the water remains bluer on the other side.   Anyway, back to 'then'.  He worked for a year before getting the means together to open a shop producing his own hand-made leather goods.  He was a fan at the time of a comic called the "Furry Freak Brothers" (possibly because he was a bit of one himself) AND he used natural materials for his goods, and so decided to utilise the magazine's character 'Mister Natural' as a name for his shop.

These were the days of olde world, long before the Industrial Revolution and machine-made, mass-produced, inexpensive leather articles were established , in the days where the skill and effort of a craftsman were appreciated and sought after and this led to many requests for items made to order, ranging  from those of  passing shoppers through various companies and orders  from theatrical agents.

It wasn't long before customers started enquiring as to whether he could repair existing leather goods.   Torn bikers jackets, damaged luggage, broken dog collars, and other items came pouring in and he soon realised he needed a specialist sewing machine for much of this.  He purchased his foot-pedal-powered Singer Patcher and to this day can be found slaving over it when the occasion requires.  Fairly early on he decided that he may as well be selling suitcases and bags to accommodate those owners of bags and cases which were too battered and torn to repair and so his journey through luggage retailing began.

Soon a picture will appear on this page, showing Mister Natural furiously pedalling away at his sewing machine whilst humming his own somewhat unmelodious and I have to say (having suffered badly  from being within hearing) very out-of-tune versions of long forgotten sea shanties.  Sadly, the author of his potted biography is not yet in possession of such a telling digi photo but, in the meantime and so as not to  totally disappoint the reader, this photograph shows:  a) the day Mister Natural found Cod, moving in a 'mysterious way' - its difficult not to when you get tangled in a a ton of nylon line while bringing in a fish determined to stay in the water and b) how seagoing has now reversed its role in his life and become the thing he does when having a break from leather.  So goes the passing of time.   

TO BE CONTINUED. P....  

Anybody out there who knows how to make PROFESSIONAL looking websites for a poor craftsman?    :)

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