About Our Little Workshop
Strapa was created by a small Dutch family with a mission to deliver high-quality, rugged leather watch straps that journey the world with you, developing character and charm from your adventures.
In 2018, Strapa was purchased by a Portuguese family that envisioned expanding the company with true old-world craftsmanship that would stand the test of time. The new owners identified an authentic leather artisan and local leather tannery that supports safe vegetable tanning techniques in the old-world style.
Today, Strapa hand-crafts high quality, authentic leather watch bands and cases that stand up exquisitely to daily use. Each product is easily traced to its maker and its leather source in Portugal. Under the careful eye of uncompromising leather artisans, our products are exceptionally durable, rugged, and timeless. Their unique simplicity is a reflection of their owners’ discerning taste for authenticity and style.
A brand of the 21st century, Strapa is 100% online and without any intermediary to add to the price. From us to you directly.
Old world artisanship for new world technology.
Old world artisanship for new world technology. That's our motto
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet Our Artisan
Fernando has been an official leather artisan since 1987 when he won first place in a leatherwork competition for a finely crafted leather handbag. For more than three decades he’s refined his skill, working out of his Porto, Portugal workshop. Fernando oversees a small team of leather smiths in his shop, personally checking each final product to ensure it meets his highest standards before it is sent to the customer.
Fernando believes in explicit quality and the unparalleled value of hand craftsmanship. All cuts and stitching are done by hand. He still uses traditional leather tools as he identifies the ideal cuts of leather and hand crafts them into fine works of art.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Leather
Fernando hand-selects hides of leather from a premiere leather factory in Porto that specializes in centuries-old vegetable-tanned calfskin leather. Vegetable tanning uses organic material and natural tannins derived from the barks, leaves, and branches of trees and plants. The result is colors rich and deep in natural earthy tones such as browns, beiges, yellows, and reds. The fibers of the animal hide used for the leather are often visible in the finished product, lending an authenticity and personality to the leather that makes it more desirable and unique. What’s more, vegetable leather bleeds less than the far more toxic and mass-produced chrome-tanned leather.
Due to exceptional craftsmanship and careful use of traditional techniques developed over centuries, the vegetable tanning process results in leather with a distinct appearance and unmatched durability. This process leads to vegetable-tanned leather lasting much longer than chrome-tanned leather. One of its best features is the patina it develops over time with prolonged use and exposure to the environment. It is also more breathable, becoming more comfortable the longer it is used.
The factory that supplies Strapa with its unique and character-rich leather also supplies premium leathers to European fashion and design companies for furniture and designer accessories.
