If you've seen any of the totes, wallets, bags, or other leather items in our general store lately, you've seen the result of our partnership with Pergamena, a family-owned tannery based in southern New York. Recently, the two brothers, Jesse and Stephen Meyer, came and visited White Oak Pastures.

Finding a tannery can be difficult, because most tanneries have moved overseas, and the remaining tanneries have become swamped with business. However, finding the right partner for our hides was important to us - one of the biggest factors in a finished leather product is the tanning process, and we want to know who we are working with.

I’ve always been fascinated with fine leather and the undeniable feel of good craftsmanship. Once common in the United States, most tanneries have now closed or moved on to other countries. It’s a rare find to stumble across an artisanal tannery that produces high-quality work using traditional vegetable-based tanning methods that were used for centuries around the globe.

My colleague, Cindra Kerscher, and I recently visited Pergamena Tannery. Owner Jesse Meyer kindly gave us a tour of his family's facility, teaching us about the processes, and sharing his family traditions with the craft.

In the case of Pergamena, a Hudson Valley boutique tannery, the team spans generations. Karl Meyer and his sons, Jesse, and Stephen, continue the family’s 450-year heritage of fine leatherwork that began in Germany.

A new collaboration now brings the leathers to Capricorn Hides, where they’re etched, engraved, and printed by artisans for decorative use.

The Meyer's have been making leather in the US for almost 200 years. Since 1999, they have built the Pergamena brand using traditional processing and manufacturing methods.

Their leathers and parchments are made at their tannery in the Hudson Valley, NY, utilizing domestically-sourced skins, environmentally-friendly production processes, and generations of tanning expertise to manufacture beautiful vegetable-tanned goat and calf leather, as well as our unique calf, deer, goat, and sheep parchment.

How animal hides are made into parchment at the last workshop of its kind in the US.

Pergamena is the last company in the US that uses animal skins to make parchment.

The craft dates back to 2500 BC and was most popular during the Middle Ages before paper was industrialized.

CEO Jesse Meyer taught himself the craft as a way to revitalize his family's nearly 500-year-old tannery business.

The Hudson Valley’s vast array of artisans often looks to the past for inspiration. Distillers use heritage techniques like floor malting, mountainside hotels carry the traditions of their ancestors, and cider producers turn to the roots of the region. There’s nothing like doing something the old-fashioned way, after all.

That’s what Jesse Meyer, the founder and owner of Pergamena tannery in Montgomery, believes. In Orange County, he and his team use a natural process called vegetable tanning that goes back to the very origins of leather.

Raymond Paul Schneider: When did you first start to develop this new collection?
Summer 2020. Steve first discovered Pergamena 15 years ago while working with Dessin Fournir in LA, where he learned about the Meyer family’s multi-generational heritage dating back to the 1500s, and the time-honored production methods that they continue to employ today at the brand’s Hudson Valley tannery.

Pergamena’s artisanal leathers—which include clean cowhides and goat skins in a range of finishes, as well as in an array of colors—serve as the perfect canvas for Steve’s artistry. The Pergamena x Capricorn Hides collection will feature a new selection of Pergamena’s leathers adorned with Capricorn Hide’s signature custom designs—including embossed, engraved, etched, and painted patterns—all hand-crafted in Capricorn’s Philadelphia studio, where he relocated in 2019. Capricorn Hides will also serve as the exclusive distributor for the Pergamena x Capricorn Hides collection.

To say that making leather is in Jesse Meyer’s blood would be an understatement. His family has been working in tanneries since the 1500s.

Meyer would help out the family business in high school, but he wasn’t a fan of the job. His father’s company would manufacture the insides of bowling shoes. It wasn’t glamorous but it kept them in business.

After graduating from SUNY New Paltz and studying art, Meyer brought his own ideas to the table.

Pergamena Leather and Parchment, of Montgomery, now makes leather for artists, fashion designers and furniture; it makes parchment for book binding. “We check a bunch of boxes,” said Meyer.