Kyle Closen has a background in leather that stems back to his time on his family’s farm in Saskatchewan, where he was born and raised. A typical day for Kyle included working at his grandparent’s upholstery store after school to help them build various leather-based products, including seats, boat tarps and canvases. “I always had an interest in it and learned a great deal from my family’s working traditions,” says Kyle.
In 2006, after he completed high school, he moved to Alberta and began working in the oil field as a semi truck driver, and then as a journeyman welder. “I eventually realized that I wasn’t in love with what I was doing,” he says. As a hobby, Kyle also spent six years making sophisticated belts and wallets for himself and his family and friends – using a simple leather kit he attained from a local shop in Edmonton.