XIAN LEATHER
Middle Island, New York
Christian Marsh, owner of Xian Leather, has a deep history in craftsmanship that dates back to the days of his grandfather who happened to be a world famous glass-eye maker in Louscha, Germany. Attention to detail and quality of work is the most important thing to Christian. For him, artwork came easy. His mother and grandmother were accomplished artists, mostly in oil paint, so it was no surprise that Christian would find himself doing something artistic.
Considering he had no formal training in leatherwork, Christian figured he would take the learn-as-you-go approach. Years later and 100 percent self-taught, he still feels that he continues to learn every time he picks up a tool and a piece of leather to make a seat. To this day and hundreds of custom seats later, Christian still doesn't think of himself as a master leather worker, instead just a leather smith that would like to bring some of the finest leather work to the motorcycle world. Christian lives and works from his shop in Middle Island, New York, and can receive and ship his work anywhere in the United States. All you need to do is get him the seatpan and an idea of what you would like done.
 To smooth out all the inside...  To smooth out all the inside cuts of the design (the black parts) Christian does an inverted cut to both sides of every line. And all stitching is done by hand. |  Christian accentuated the...  Christian accentuated the bottom of the seat pan by following the pan press pattern with a spider-web like design. |  |