Plume — Oudtshoorn ostrich leather & feathers 258

The range

Bags

Kango Satchel

A structured day bag cut from a single full-quill crown and lined in vegetable-tanned calf, with a hand-stitched gusset rather than a glued one. The strap drops to the hip and adjusts through a solid brass slide, so it sits where it should on a tall person and on a short one. Two open pockets inside, no zip in the lining, and a flat base that lets it stand on a floor without going over. Ostrich softens with use and never cracks the way calf eventually does, which is why the ones we made in 1999 are still coming back for new stitching instead of new hides. Four weeks to make, and each one carries the skin number on the underside of the flap.

R4 850.00Add to cart

Wallets

Cango Card Wallet

Four card slots and a flat note pocket folded from one panel of ostrich, skived thin at the folds so it closes properly instead of gaping after a month. Slim enough for a front pocket and stubborn enough to keep its shape in a back one. The quill pattern wears in rather than out — the raised follicles flatten and take on a shine where your thumb sits, and that is the part people end up liking most. Made from the flank, which is why it costs what it does next to the satchel. Natural tan, charcoal or oxblood; say which when you order.

R980.00Add to cart

Belts

Schoeman Belt

A 32 mm ostrich strap on a hand-finished brass buckle, lined with bridle leather so it does not stretch out of shape in the first year. Every one is cut from the crown of the skin, where the follicles sit tightest, so the quill pattern runs even the whole way round rather than fading off at the tail. Measure an existing belt from the fold to the hole you use, not your trouser size — that is where most people get it wrong. It is made to be re-punched as it settles and we will do that here for nothing, whenever you bring it in. The buckle unscrews if you would rather put your own on it.

R1 450.00Choose a size

Feathers

Klein Karoo Plume Fan

Thirty prime tail plumes washed, sorted by length and steamed open over a kettle at the bench upstairs, then bound to a turned kiaat handle with waxed thread. Natural bone or dyed charcoal, and the dyed ones take a fortnight longer because the colour has to go on before the barbs are dressed. It moves a surprising amount of air, which is worth knowing if you thought you were buying an ornament. Keep it out of direct sun or the bone goes yellow on the exposed side within a season. Shake it out now and again and it will outlive most of what is in the room with it.

R620.00Add to cart

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Feather Duster

Soft second-cut feathers wired to a beech shaft, and still the right tool for gilded frames, record sleeves, hi-fi lids and anything else a cloth would scratch. Ostrich holds dust electrostatically instead of pushing it around the room, which is the whole reason museums still buy these by the dozen. Wash it in cool water with a little soap, shake it hard and hang it head-down to dry; it comes back better than new. Ours are made on the same jig they were made on in the eighties, because nobody has improved on it. The 45 cm shaft is the one most people want.

R340.00Add to cart

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Eggshell Table Lamp

A cleaned and blown ostrich eggshell pierced by hand on a drill press and set on a blackened steel foot, lit from inside by a warm 2 W bulb on a 1.8 m braided cord. Every shell has its own thickness and its own grain, so no two throw the same pattern on a wall and we will not pretend otherwise. It puts out about as much light as a good candle, which makes it a bedside or a passage lamp rather than a reading one. The shells come from the same farms as the hides, after the eggs have been through the hatchery. Handle it the way you would handle a bowl and it will last a lifetime.

R1 290.00Add to cart

Ostrich