Do you ever have one of those moments where a name or brand keeps popping up in your everyday life, be it on television or a fashion event? And instead of Googling it right there and then, you keep putting it off? I had that happen to me for the last year with the brand fiveleft. Finally, I researched it and realized I should have checked out Lincoln Heller’s designs a long time ago! Luckily for me, fiveleft was showcasing designs, producing belts live, and was part of the runway show at the Circle Craft Christmas Market.

Lincoln Heller turns rugged leathers into modern styles for men and women. With some pieces simplistic in design, and others extravagant, Heller’s creations are produced in his studio at 1000 Parker Street. All of the leather is from a small family run tannery in the UK and uses a more eco-friendly vegetable tanning method. This means that the cowhides are soaked with tannins found in different vegetable matter like tree bark instead of the typical chemical tanning process. The tools used to create these beautiful items are over sixty years old, and are all made by hand. Detailing for these pieces are created with recycled objects like bicycle spokes and bolts. Everything is dyed and textured individually so no two pieces are the same (the thrifter inside me loves the uniqueness!) Piece-by-piece they’re sewn together, and as Lincoln Heller says “This leather, it absorbs your personality. It becomes a part of you. It takes on your lifestyle.”

Finding inspiration on the streets of Vancouver, Lincoln Heller’s accessory line fiveleft is definitely a local favourite. Seeing his designs on Shaw TV, Eco-fashion Week season 6, Circle Craft Christmas Market, and the Eastside Culture Crawl, I was very excited and honoured to interview him for Sad Mag.

Sad Mag: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Lincoln Heller: My name is Lincoln Heller. I’ve been living in Canada for almost 20 years now. I came from southern Washington State. I came here for school at Emily Carr. I didn’t know what I was gonna do, so I worked in the film industry for a little bit, then worked in graphic design. And then this business started for me in craft and fashion shows. I started at the Portobello West Market in 2006, I showed up to the show with a few handmade wallets. I didn’t sell anything for the first few shows, but there was something about communicating and networking, the social aspect of public sales that was really fun for me. That’s where it really started.

SM: Why did you call your company fiveleft?

LH: I’m left handed, five fingers on my left hand. When I was a kid, it was pretty obvious I was gonna have to make a living doing tactile, hands-on making things. I think fiveleft, the word itself, came from my liking to combine words. My whole product line always has two words smashed together. That comes from computers, the early days of file naming; everything had no spaces and it had to be lowercase. It came time at Emily Carr, where I had to come up a name. I was sitting at the computer thinking, and it just happened.

SM: What inspired you to make leather accessories?

LH: I’m fascinated with containers and things that hold our lives. Wallets, bags these are things that hold bits of our life. And how we travel throughout our day with the bits of our things. Things like, belts. These are small little things that are good for business. But what really fascinate me are men and women bags. They hold our life, and we carry them around.

SM: What des the future look for fiveleft?

LH: We started out in craft markets. Fashion has always been drawing, its somehow not a seasonal product. It’s timeless. It’s a mushy fusion of craft, art and fashion. Part of that is unclassifiable, its what people like. Real fashion people love timeless [things], but they also know how to pick the right trends. One thing that is happening is we’re starting to talk about a wholesale ready and accessible brand. There are two personalities that have been growing: fiveleft by Lincoln Heller (wholesale ready brand) and Lincoln Heller (unique products). Flexible products versus sophisticated designs.

SM: What would usually be playing at your studio?

LH: I’m an electronic music junkie. Things that make noise; I like noise in the shop.

Follow fiveleft on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or check out his online store.