Michael Alexander meets a Perth couple who have forged a successful hand craft business from the life-changing embers of illness.
The front room of Ross and Louise Ormerod’s ground floor flat near Perth city centre is an eclectic clutter of creativity. Piles of leather and tartan are stacked at one end of the room, whilst a table at the other is strewn with cut out pieces of tartan and evidence of stitching work.
A talking point for any visitor is their pet white-lipped tree frog from Australia, called Grobbit, which sits in a tank just inside their window.
But it’s the finished products of handmade leather and tartan satchels, scarves and accessories which prove to be the real conversation stopper.
It’s not too many people that find satisfaction being able to work from home doing something they love.
But that’s what Ross, 39, manages to do after being forced to re-assess his life five years ago.
The father-of-two had always been very fit and active. Born in Perth, he grew up around Tomintoul where his father worked as a gamekeeper on the Inchrory Estate, and always enjoyed cycling and skiing.
But five years ago, Ross, who by this time worked as a self-employed gardener in Perth, developed rheumatoid arthritis.
“All of a sudden I became incapacitated and I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” he said.
“I went from what I thought was aches and pains from doing a big gardening job, to pretty much being stuck in my bed with inflamed hands, knees and joints until I got diagnosed with what I had and got the right pain killers. I had to give up gardening and re-assess my life.”
Louise, 36, who married Ross in 2002, said that if it wasn’t for her husband’s spirit of determination, he would likely have been confined to a wheelchair years ago.
But the turning point came after Louise, who works full time as a sales coach with SSE in Perth, went on a craft course. She made a bag out of folded up magazines and used a bit of tape to waterproof it.
After she took it to work and it practically fell to bits, Ross, who by now had time on his hands, said he could do better – if they had a sewing machine.
“I never saw myself as being creative. I was always a hands-on person, “ he explained.
“But we went out and bought some fabric – mainly because I was bored and daytime TV didn’t do anything for me!” he laughed.
“l made a bag in four hours. And then we made a few for Christmas. We got some tartan from Macnaughtons of Perth and decided to team it up with some leather. When we looked at the tartan and leather together, we thought we’ve really got something here. And started doing little craft shows.”
And so was born LEO Designs – the initials coming from the initials of Louise Elizabeth Ormerod – with the idea being it could also stand for Love Everything Original. And around a year ago they decided to go ahead with the venture full-time.
They teamed up with Ashleigh Slater of Blairgowrie who was developing a Berries and Cherries tartan and also impressed the Artery Gifts gallery in St Andrews which wanted to stock some of their products in an exclusive ‘Kinfauns’ range. The rest of the LEO Designs remain available to all with a couple of bags even used recently by students at a high profile St Andrews University fashion show.
Everything is produced from the flat, where the couple live with their children Finlay, 13 and Josie, 12.
Ross does most of the work, cutting out materials and pre-punching.
Louise enjoys sewing with a 1915 hand-cranked Singer sewing machine which was picked up at a charity shop for £28.
She added: “It’s something from the past, something old, but it’s as accurate as anything. That’s what we are all about.”
Ross said they’d like permanent premises to work out of and to run workshops.
“It’s a dying trade,“ he added, “but we really love it.”
