From the workshop, Sunday afternoon #1

It’s a Sunday afternoon here at the bottom of the world, Tasmania.

Unusually hot. A weather change is coming, you can feel it in the air. At sea, that feeling means a change of tack, a new rhythm, a different pace. The workshop has its own weather too.

I was up at 5am. I like watching the day emerge out of darkness. Birds first, then light, then shadow stretching elongating across the paddock. My fingers are slightly oily from a morning of sewing oilskin canvas. The cutting table is covered in long strips, chalk lines drawn dead centre, both edges creased and waiting for stitching. They'll be transformed into handles, soon enough.

My mum was here visiting this week. She helped cut, measure, sew and prepare small batches. Quiet work.

There’s now a satisfying run of inventory on the shelf. Satisfying almost undersells it. Heavy. Solid. Real work completed and ready to go.

Most people only ever see the finished object on a screen. What they don’t see is the rhythm behind it. Measuring everything with my dad’s old ruler, stacking cut panels, creasing hems, threading a new bobbin, listening to the compressor fire unexpectedly into life. Pearl Jam plays on an actual record player, which forces me to stand up and turn it to side B.

Kohutt feels like a winter brand to me. Not just because winter is busiest, but because the colours, weight and materials in each object seem to project their place of creation. Summer is for building inventory. For refining.

Over the last few weeks I’ve culled a large number of products from the website. I went through last year’s sales data carefully. I’ve become more focused.

One of the difficult things about having a full workshop is realising you can make almost anything. And if you’re not careful, you do. Fifty products appear on the website. Patterns multiply. Materials scatter. Six months later you’re trying to remember how you even built something.

That’s not clarity.

2026 is a year of clarity. Inventory. Capacity. Focus.

If you own something from the workshop already, thank you.

If you’ve been considering something, most pieces are now ready to ship.

And if you’ve read this far, I’ve just had a small batch of new stickers printed with updated branding. If you’d like some, reply with your postal address and I’ll send a few out.

Grateful, as always,

Nick