“I didn’t want to design a bag on the computer and send it to a factory. I would never feel the leather, never touch the thread,” Blythe Leonard says. “I wanted to create every day. Do something different every day.” And so, one year after graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015, Leonard established her namesake, handmade leather goods company in Thomasville.
From the start, the workspace was extra special to Leonard: The building used to be a dyehouse, operated by her great-grandfather. Now, decades later, Leonard hopes to continue his legacy of creating jobs and championing American-made products.
All of her materials — from buttery leather to brass hardware — are sourced from the U.S., and all of her bags are one of a kind. One of Leonard’s favorite things about her craft, she says, is designing custom products: “From sketching to patterning to making, I love the process,” she says. “And giving it to the customer! And them falling in love. It’s just” — she pauses — “amazing.”
Blythe Leonard
606 Davidson Street
Thomasville, NC 27360
(336) 687-5366
blytheleonard.com
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
