2024-04-21 03:26:41
Sews by hand
G. Eičas, a leather craftsman, has been sewing leather wallets, handbags, eyeglass cases and other home accessories by hand, without using any sewing machine, for the past year and branding them with the “Dreaming Cow” trademark.
He is also persistent in sports – this year he is waiting for a mastery exam to receive a black belt in karate kyokushin. After a long break of almost 20 years, G. Eičas returned to this sport four years ago and has already passed the requirements for three championship belts.
Constant creativity
For now, Tauragiškis, who has mastered the leather craft, sells everything he makes using his Facebook account.
He sews home accessories for both men and women from natural leather by hand.
“There are very few differences in general, because, let’s say, cosmetics are needed for both men and women,” said G. Eičas.
This man has a lot of creativity in his work history.
First of all, from 2008, he worked as a cameraman at Tauragė cable television, after that, from 2010, he spent 6 years in England. After returning home to Tauragė – television again.
“My emigrant story was different from others because I didn’t have to work in construction or in vegetable warehouses.
I managed to find a good job in the United Kingdom division of the biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific.
I got a job there as an assistant, and later I worked as a shift supervisor in one of the production departments. But everything turned out so that after breaking up with my girlfriend at the time, I no longer wanted to live abroad alone.
I missed Lithuania, so I returned home in the summer of 2016″, said Gediminas.
They did not come back empty-handed – the excellent recommendations of the managers also reached the Thermo Fisher Scientific company in Vilnius.
At that time, its expansion had just taken place – in 2015, laboratories were opened in a new production unit.
“Unfortunately, the positions I applied for were not available in the company, so I returned to work at Tauragė cable television. I worked there until the 2020s, until the COVID-19 pandemic, and then I started filming on my own.
To relax, I spent more and more time watching online leatherwork tutorials, watching leather workers in the United States or Japan sew handbags by hand. In the end, I decided to try it myself”, – this is how G. Eičas described the path towards a hobby that turned into a business.
Long-lasting products
Natural leather is thick and quite hard. How is it possible to sew it by hand? “For this, I use special forks, with which I make holes in the skin with a hammer, and then a thread is inserted into them with a needle. There are round holes, there are diamond-shaped holes, there are French holes, and all these are specific to the craft.
On the other hand, leather products sewn by hand are durable, so their production also complies with the laws of sustainability. They may get bored, but you don’t have to throw them away – you just have to wait until their time comes again.
Machine-sewn seams rot, if the thread breaks, the whole seam falls apart. And when sewing by hand, each eye is secured with a knot, so even if the skin is cut, the seam does not come apart. But such work requires patience and diligence, and for me such work is like meditation,” the master assured.
According to Gedimin, in order to achieve the goal, I had to watch a lot of video lessons on the Internet, try a lot, experiment, throw away the damaged skin, until finally experience and hand skills come.
No longer just a hobby
Selling what is made is not easy either. According to G. Eič, since leather accessories are not essential items and are still relatively expensive, because of the economic situation, people who have money to save more often buy them for gifts, rather than for themselves.
“I’m not going to quit this job. I really want to get into leather worker training courses through the Employment Service. I’ve been waiting for that training for a year now, but the group still hasn’t come together, even though only five people are needed. It’s not just a hobby anymore, I’m trying to make a living from it. I’m filming a little again to add some income,” said Tauragiškis.
Is the raw material from which G. Eičas sews accessories cowhide?
This question was triggered by seeing the Dreaming Cow logo, a combination of letters D and C that resemble an animal’s snout. “It’s just a play on words,” the man assured.
2024-04-21 03:26:41