Leathersmith Career Profile
- Career Name - Leathersmith
- Category - Farming & Livestock Management / Business
- Skills Required - Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic School Subjects - Business, Biology, Language,
- Minimum Required Education - High School Certificatema
- Species Worked With - Farm Animals, Mammals
- Kind of Interaction with Animals - Direct
Do you want to work as a Leathersmith?
READ: This page helps you to read about the career and the info you need to decide on whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: ​Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for the career, then join the OZT Community! Members have access to tools, while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED: 24 May 2023
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What is a Leathersmith?
A Leathersmith uses tools and machinery to colour, design, create, repair, and restore items made from processed leather.
Alternative Names
Also known as:
- Leather Craftworker
- Leather Goods Maker
Career Categories
The Leathersmith career can be found in the following career categories:
- Farming and Livestock Management
- Business
What does a Leathersmith do?
Groups of animals a Leathersmith works with
What is the level of Interaction with the Animals?
- Directly - A person works directly with the animals with some form of physical contact at least once every few days
- Indirectly - The career doesn't require direct or physical contact at all.
What does a Leathersmith focus on?
The primary focus of a Leathersmith is to design the product required and cut templates for each piece. Then use the templates to cut the leather and stitch everything together.
What are the daily tasks of a Leathersmith?
- Create and maintain the processing enclosures
- Inspect new leather sheets for faults and weak spots
- Design templates
- Use templates to cut leather
- Use hand or machinery to stitch pieces together
- Communicate with buyers
- Administration and filing
The working Environment of a Leathersmith?
Where does a Leathersmith work?
Environment –
A Leathersmith works mostly indoors in specially constructed rooms where the leather can be coloured, cut and stitched into the items required.
Places of Employment –
Most Leathersmiths are employed by leather processing companies or businesses that use leather to make products. They may also be self employed and own the business.
What is the average annual salary of a Leathersmith?
On average the income per year is around US$50,000. This will differ from country to country.
What difficulties can a Leathersmith face?
The most difficult part of the job is that it requires working with dangerous chemicals, tools and machinery.
It may also require extremely long and tough hours, including working over weekends and holidays.
​Future growth and Possibilities
The industry is competitive, but does grow every year at around 4%
Which Skills are required by a Leathersmith?
The skills required for a career as a Leathersmith can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills
- Customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Computer literacy
- Business skills
Which Subjects must I have at School to prepare for this career?
Good communication is important when working in a fast paced industry. Knowledge of livestock, leather and tanning terminology will be required.
Basic understanding of business, especially in the production of leather.
Biology will give you a good start in learning more about the specific animals you want to work with.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
What will I need to Study to become a Leathersmith?
Minimum Requirements
The minimum educational requirement to enter this career is a High School Certificate.
A college Diploma or normal short courses could add to experience.
Study Focus
Major –
Subjects in leather processing and leathercraft.
Short Courses –
Short Courses in handling leather processing tools and machinery.
Study Duration
The duration of College and Bachelor’s Degrees can be up to 3 or 4 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
Possible Career Preparation Paths
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
​To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Stepping Stone Career
Being a Leathersmith can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high study fees etc).
You can begin as a junior Leathersmith after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and apprenticeship
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of the skills you will need as a Leathersmith will be acquired through practice. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions can be offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior Leathersmith.
Join the Hide Leathersmiths Group to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of all the people who enter the career:
Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
Learn more about requirements by joining the OZT Community.
Professional Associations
Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards livestock and leather processing.
Join the OZT community & career Group
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming a Leathersmith.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being a Leathersmith, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
If this career is NOT the career for you, then you may return to the MAIN CAREERÂ menu, and search for something different.
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