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A version of this article originally appeared in the Craftsmanship issue of Gear Patrol Magazine as part of the package entitled “Handmade With Purpose.” Subscribe today
California’s Icon 4×4 has built a reputation for incredibly detailed, largely handmade automotive projects, from painstakingly refurbished vintage Land Cruisers and Broncos to its “Derelict” line of reimagined (and mostly unrestored) classic cars. But while Icon’s founder, Jonathan Ward, is best known for his uncompromising automotive restorations, he’s also spent the last three years dabbling in leather craft, a labor-intensive process he calls his “therapy hobby.”
That sideline recently found its way into Ward’s day job, as he brings the essentially defunct tradition of hand-dyed leather back to the inside of a car.
“The tradition’s all but dead,” Ward says of hand-dying, “because it’s too artisanal. It takes too fucking long.”
Ward was introduced to the technique by artist Kathleen Fiorito, of Oregon. (Ward signed up for her very first class.) After Ward posted an example of his handiwork to Instagram, a client who had commissioned a Nashville-inspired 1949 Hudson contacted him about swapping the car’s planned stingray trim for custom hand-dyed crocodylian. Ward agreed.
