Craft the Leather Tuscan Residency
What is the Craft the Leather Tuscan Residency?
A 7-day leather craft program in San Miniato, Tuscany.
October 3–9, 2027
The Craft the Leather Tuscan Residency is a bespoke program created and led by Seemore Global, set in the heart of Tuscany’s vegetable-tanned leather district of San Miniato.
For over a decade, the world’s leading design schools have sent students and faculty to this region to study vegetable-tanned leather alongside Italian master craftsmen. Seemore Global created the Craft the Leather Tuscan Residency to open that experience to a wider community of makers for the first time.
The residency is designed, organized, and run by Seemore Global, with the endorsement of the Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale; the body that safeguards the heritage of Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather. It’s built for design professionals, faculty, researchers, and makers at every level who want to understand the material from origin to object.
Over the week you’ll follow vegetable-tanned leather from the tannery floor to your own hands (its chemistry, its making, and everything it can become) working closely beside an Italian master craftsman. And because the craft doesn’t end at the bench, the days are shaped by the place itself: shared Tuscan meals, the rhythm of a small medieval town, and unhurried hours to walk, look, and let it all settle in.
The program is held entirely within the Fondazione Conservatorio Santa Chiara, a 14th-century former convent in the medieval center of San Miniato. Access to the Conservatorio requires formal committee approval and is granted exclusively to educational programs.
Being welcomed into a place so few are given the chance to enter shapes the whole feeling of the week; there’s a quiet sense of privilege and focus from the moment you arrive. Everyone is welcome here, at every level of making; you’ll be met exactly where you are and grow from there.
This program is designed for professionals who understand the value of slowing down, learning deeply, and making something real.
What will we do each day?
Sunday, October 3 | Arrival
Participants arrive independently at the Fondazione Conservatorio Santa Chiara in San Miniato. The evening opens with a welcome dinner, the first gathering of the full cohort.
Monday, October 4 | Material Origins
The week begins with an educational session on the chemistry, sustainability, and certification of vegetable-tanned leather, offered with the support of the Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale. A guided look at how the material is made follows, the full production process from raw hide to finished leather, seen firsthand. The afternoon returns to San Miniato for an outdoor foraging session: sketching textures, observing materials, and beginning to develop a design language informed by place.
Tuesday through Thursday, October 5–7 | Workbench
3 full studio days with an Italian master craftsman. Participants work directly alongside him, hands on the material throughout; cutting, constructing, finishing, and refining. Techniques covered include hide selection, pattern marking, cutting, edge finishing, burnishing, hardware setting, construction, and final assembly. The environment is experimental, community-driven, and open to makers at every level of experience.
Friday, October 8 | Culture & Community
The studio opens for independent work in the morning. The afternoon is a guided cultural excursion in the San Miniato region. The week closes with a farewell dinner.
Saturday, October 9 | Synthesis & Departure
A final group critique and presentation of finished work. Participants depart with the object they made and the material knowledge to continue.
What will we learn and make?
You’re learning and creating:
A foundational understanding of vegetable-tanned leather; its origin, chemistry, sustainability credentials, and material properties
Hands-on craft skills developed under the direct guidance of a master craftsman
A finished object made by your own hands
Connection to an international cohort of designers, educators, and makers
Professional development documentation available for institutional grant applications and reimbursement submissions
Formally endorsed by the Consorzio Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale.
Where we are staying?
All rooms include daily breakfast.
Room preference can be indicated at registration and assignments are confirmed by Seemore Global prior to arrival.
The Conservatory sits directly on Via Roma in San Miniato's medieval center, steps from the town's piazzas, restaurants, and viewpoints. The studio, dining room, museum and living spaces are all within the same complex.
There’s a real sense of history in the walls here—a calm, contemplative quiet that makes it easy to slow down and lose yourself in the work. The Fondazione Conservatorio Santa Chiara is a working academic residence, one of only a handful of places in Italy opened to educational programs like ours. Staying somewhere this rare is part of what makes the week feel so special.
Overview of Details
Dates: October 3–9, 2027
Location: Santa Chiara Conservatory, San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy
Capacity: 18 participants
Investment (per person): $4,950 double occupancy (shared room)
$5,495 single occupancy (private room)
Included: 7 nights accommodation, all leather materials and hides, a guided material-origins session and tannery visit, breakfast, 4 dinners, studio access, cultural excursion.
Not included: International airfare, travel insurance.
Getting there: the nearest airport is Pisa (PSA). Airport transfers can be arranged on request, or a taxi is straightforward.
Cancellation: full refund for cancellations made before July 23, 2027.
Registration closes August 15, 2027.
Group rates available contact Hello@seemoreglobal.com
18 makers
October 3–9, 2027
This is Seemore Global’s bespoke edition of Craft the Leather — a week in San Miniato spent in close study of vegetable-tanned leather, working at the bench alongside an Italian master craftsman. For the first time, it’s open beyond the academic network that has long known it.
We hold the cohort to 18.
Everyone has a bench, the master’s attention, and the space to make something considered. Places are confirmed in the order they’re claimed; worth securing yours early.
Two pricing options cover accommodation, all leather and materials, and most meals for the week.
$4950- shared double room ensuite bathroom
$5495- single room ensuite bathroom
If you’ve been looking for the right reason to go, this is it.