Leather Modding at Twenty-one Astor
- Rich Labot
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Exploring a new workshop concept with the Tsubota Pearl Bolbo and Eddie lighters.
An obsessive appreciation for fine, high-utility things and the legacy brands that make them is a driving force for what we do at Twenty-one Astor. Whether it is a whiskey glass from Godinger, collar stays from Moulet, or a steel toolbox in military green by Toyo, great design deserves to be celebrated. Our new leather modding series is born from that appreciation. The goal is not to change or improve products that are already exceptional, but to add a layer of color, texture, and a human feel that only leather can provide.
These beautiful brass lighters from Tsubota Pearl are a perfect example. Their original design does not need any alteration. However, I personally love the feel of leather in hand, and that is why I wanted to craft custom covers for both the elongated Bolbo model and the classic, wider NB silhouette.
For this project, I selected premium Italian vegetable-tanned leather from the Badalassi Carlo tannery. As you can see in the video above, executing an aftermarket modification like this requires an entirely different type of precision than building a traditional flat wallet. The leather must be precisely measured, cut with a rotary blade, and hot-stamped with our signature mark before it ever touches the metal. Because the two lighter models have entirely different dimensions, each template had to be calculated separately to ensure a seamless fit around the brass casings without interfering with the mechanical components.
Once the leather is prepped, we use a traditional baseball cross-stitch to pull the seam tight along the spine of the metal. It introduces a whole new layer of comfort, balancing the polished brass surface with a warm, tactile grip.
The result is a set of items built to age beautifully together. As the brass naturally oxidizes and the leather darkens from the oils of your hands, the two materials will record a parallel history through daily handling.
This is an extension of what we do best, elevating the objects you interact with every single day. The initial run of these custom pieces will be hitting the site soon.
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