We have a couple of vintage Wassily chairs designed by 20th century modernist Marcel Breuer. The chairs sell today for ~5k each. We had a back strap and seat both made of thick belting leather that needed re-stitching. Living in Sarasota we could not find a shop that could do the restiching. We checked out shoe repair and leathersmith people. All said no, we can't do it. To be fair, it is a difficult job that requires patience and proper equipment or time consuming hand stitching with the proper type and color of thread, in order to keep the authenticity of the chair. Just when we were about to lose hope and buy very expensive licensed replacement straps out of California, we came across Paul's Leather Place in Bradenton. Paula's ad said custom leather work and repairs, along with the statement that if you got a problem we can fix it (paraphrasing). We drove to Paul's and met with him and Lynn. And YES they said they could do the job with the right heavy duty thread and color. But it would have to be done by hand. We left both pieces. Lynn finished the job by the next day. The work was great; both pieces looked like new. And the price-unbelievable fair and reasonable. if I had to replace both pieces, it would have cost about $400. If you need good leather items, patches, belts, etc or leather repair, even on items you may think are beyond repair, give Paul and Lynn a shot first. You will be surprised. And save yourself a bunch of money in the process. read more
