Hailing from the Netherlands, Sabine Spanjer was an interaction designer. Fellow Dutchwoman Kika Vliegenthart earned a Bachelors in Economics. So naturally the two found themselves starting up a leather goods company in NYC, producing beautiful models like the Postal BackPack #3, above and below, and a line of bags, device cases, sandals, belts, suspenders, wallets and more. (See the full line-up here.)

The two operate out of a space in Brooklyn's Navy Yard under the name Kika NY, designing and producing goods--all by hand--that go out to shops in New York, San Francisco, L.A., Austin, Portland, and overseas.

Our goal is to design high quality goods that will last a lifetime —ones with clean, simple lines that eliminate the unnecessary.

To keep the the tradition alive, we work with machines custom-built for our studio and tools from old-school suppliers in France and the UK. Most of our resources come from Europe as well. We use high-end leather from Portugal, Italy, and Belgium, and our solid brass hardware is hand-tooled in a family-owned foundry in Europe.

It didn't happen overnight, of course; before starting up Kika NY, Vliegenthart spent some 15 years apprenticing under a rather legendary NYC leathersmith whom we'll look at next.