In Suranat’s workshop I just wanted to learn how to work with leather. A small wallet should be ready at the end of the three hours. It was. But I got a lot more: Suranat told me how he found his calling through a hint of the universe. This is his story.

Family and friends thought Suranat was crazy when he quit his job. For years he had worked as a tailor, designing and sewing wonderful gowns. But he was no longer happy. He no longer enjoyed his work as much as before. The 48-year-old thought it was time for a change in his life.

In 2010 he went to England. It was paradise, he believed at the time. “It is not,” he learned quickly and flew back to his home in Chiang Mai. Still, he didn’t want to continue where he left off before his trip. Together with his partner, a British, he decided to open a coffee shop. Suranat attended bakery courses, acquired the necessary knowledge – and then had to admit that both he and his partner had no expertise in the catering sector. And that there are already quite a few coffee shops in Chiang Mai. To open another one without the necessary specialist knowledge? An idea that was doomed to fail in advance. Suranat was realistic. And disappointed.

A call from his brother should change everything. He made Suranat aware of the material leather. “There is this company in Bangkok,” he told him. They were looking for someone to sell leather for them in Chiang Mai. At that time Suranat thought only briefly. Working for someone else was out of the question for him. But working with leather – it wasn’t that far from tailoring.

Suranat started practicing to become familiar with the new material and processing techniques. A bag was his first project. And then everything happened very quickly. A project called “Hand Made Chiang Mai” was looking for new artists in the city. Suranat applied and became part of the project. “It went from zero to a hundred,” he says. Since then he has been selling all kinds of handmade leather goods in his small studio just outside the old town. “My brother’s call was a hint from the universe,” says the 48-year-old today. He has learned: “The right time is waiting for you.“

PS: While Suranat told me all of this, I worked hard on my leather case. You can see the result below.