Calling all dog lovers! Have you peeped the insanely chic leather and rope dog leash that Chapman at Sea {an awesome maker out of Florida!} designed exclusively for our Apartment 34 Holiday Shop? If you haven’t, you’re going to die- right along with us. It’s THE {and we mean it!} best lookin’ dog accessory on the market. Each leash is hand crafted with gorgeous brass hardware, a super luxuriously soft lambskin tassel and details- it’s crisp, modern and every person with a pup needs one. We love the work of this husband and wife duo so much that we thought we’d share their story, their appreciation for materials and design and a little bit of insight into the process of this exclusive, limited edition leash {there are only 25!} available in our shop HERE.

The Chapman at Sea Story

From Tasha: Chapman at Sea is a collaboration between myself, Tasha and my husband, Joe. The whole thing began with a vintage army duffle and the need for some surfboard bags. I inherited the duffle from my grandfather. He was an old army guy with a great collection of vintage military goods. I’d had the duffle for a long time. I always took it on my travels, it holds all of our dive and beach stuff while at home. And despite it being really old, it never wears out. It’s made from a heavy duty canvas that just keeps looking better the more it’s used. So when I went to make board bags {I’ve always been into fabric and texture!} I thought it would be really cool if they had the same utilitarian style and age just as well as my grandfather’s duffle bag.

Our board bags turned out really well and we enjoyed making them so we took the whole thing online. My artistic eye {I was an illustrator prior!} and Joe’s real life marine experience {he’s a commercial diver!} came together to make a super high quality bag. And people liked them! Beach bags were the next product we came out with and then leashes.

Tales to Live By

The obvious reason we named our company Chapman by the Sea is that Chapman is our last name and we live by the sea, but that’s not exactly where the name came from… I’ve often noticed that there are a lot of Chapmans involved in sea-faring activities- there are nautical textbooks written by Chapmans and near us, in Fort Lauderdale, there’s even a Chapman School of Seamanship! It seems like past Chapmans have had a lot to do with the ocean and since the company all started to fill a need we had in our own lives – the surfboard bags – and that [out to sea mentality] is pretty much how it continues. If there’s something we need, we look into making it, making it better, making it stylish.

We’re always on the lookout for new ways to use the classic materials we work with! It’s also very important to me that nothing go to waste – especially the leather. I want to use the animal product as respectfully as possible and not discard loads of it. The leashes are a perfect example for that because they allow us to use the smaller pieces of leather that are left over from the large bags. These little bits could easily be tossed out, but instead we put them into accenting the leashes- creating something beautiful with them!

Designing an Exclusive Piece

We started with our basic leash design and thought about what we could do to customize it further- make it special and unique. There were several versions we came up with, some more elaborate than others, but after a lot of input from the Apartment 34 crew we decided on a design that spoke most to the Apartment 34 brand – a classic style with some lovely upgraded materials and details, of course! All of our leashes have leather accents, but this one uses a gorgeous soft lambskin. And the lambskin is THE perfect shade of grey to compliment the white rope and brass hardware – nautical for sure, but with a modern, elegant twist. The oversized, hand wrapped tassel is the ultimate showstopper.

We’re in love with this uber sophisticated and elevated dog leash and you should be too! Who says that our furry friends shouldn’t look as stylish as we do? Order your leash {and one for the equally obsessed pet lover in your life!} fast because they are going to sell out QUICK. There are only 25 available!

You can buy the leash here. Happy Holidays! Woof woof.

images c/o Chapman at Sea and via @chapmanatsea // image 2, 7, 8 original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick