About Steph

Hi, I'm StephChan. Technically it's “Steph Chan,” but somewhere along the way everyone decided to make it one word, and at this point I've just accepted it.

I'm an artist and leatherworker based in the Philadelphia area, which means I spend an unreasonable amount of time staring at brick patterns, window frames, and alleyways that really don't need this much attention but get it anyway.

I specialize in black and white architectural drawings and handcrafted leather goods. On paper, that looks like obsessive pen lines and way too many windows. I don't use any drafting tools or pencil; it's pen from start to finish. I leave all my construction lines and mistakes in there because for me it's all about the transparency of the journey. If I used rulers, the perfectionist in me would get stuck on one line not being exactly parallel to another, and if I used pencil I'd just be drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing forever instead of actually finishing the thing.

In leather, it looks like bags, wallets, and journal covers that are built to be used hard and age beautifully, not sit on a shelf and behave. Most of my leather pieces start as flat pattern templates and a pile of cut parts, and then it's hours of skiving, punching, and hand‑stitching until everything locks together. I love the problem‑solving of it: figuring out how thick a strap should be so it's strong but still comfortable, how to match hardware and thread to the leather, and how to build something that'll look even better after being thrown in cars, under airplane seats, and on bar floors for years.

At the end of the day, I just want to make honest work that feels like a real person made it.