Grant Anderson never set out to sell leather. He set out to make a bag as nice as the saddle-leather interior of a used King Ranch truck he loved. That turned into Uptown Common, a one-person shop in the Indianapolis area built around structured, hand-sewn bags.Then a single sale at a Chicago show went sideways. A customer wanted a strap, the exact MPG hide had been discontinued, and Grant had to call in a favor just to finish the order. Within a few weeks he'd named a company, formed a corporation, and wired money to a tannery in Italy. That's how The Leather Reserve started.This episode follows both hats Grant wears. On the craft side, he gets into wet-forming gussets with acrylic forms, the Barry King maul that changed how his work felt, why he switched from waxed linen to polyester thread, and the two-color saddle stitch that's become his signature. On the business side, he explains why makers can't just buy direct from a tannery, what a 50-square-meter minimum order actually means, and why he only stocks leather he'd use himself.If you've ever wondered how a small maker decides to become the supplier — and what that costs in time, money, and nerve — this one's worth your time. Recorded as Grant's first shipment was literally crossing the Atlantic.