Our story
A suitcase too heavy
to carry alone.
Silk & Ember began the way most good things do — accidentally, and on a trip that was supposed to be a vacation.
We came home with a wallet hand-stitched in a workshop in Cairo, a belt that had been tooled while we waited, and a length of linen so beautifully woven we felt foolish wearing anything else. Friends asked where we got them. Then they asked if we could pick up a few extras the next time we went. Then a few more.
Today, that's the whole business. We travel — slowly, deliberately — through the markets and workshops of Damascus, Cairo, Istanbul, and the smaller cities you've never heard of. We meet the makers. We learn the technique. We pay fairly, in person, and we carry the work home.
Three principles
Carried, not shipped.
Every piece in our shop has been in our hands. We don't drop-ship, don't bulk-order from a wholesale catalog, and don't sell anything we wouldn't carry on the plane home ourselves.
Paid fairly, in person.
We pay the maker directly, in cash, at the price they ask. There's no middleman, no factory, no markup we haven't talked through with the person who made the thing.
Built to last decades.
The leather we sell will outlive us. The textiles will pass to your kids. We choose pieces by craft and material, not by trend or season. Heirloom goods, not fast fashion.
If you have something specific in mind — a particular leather, a region, a craft technique you've been hunting for — tell us. We'll keep an eye out on the next trip.