Leatherwork as a field of the visual arts has numerous viable enterprises. These enterprises offer several career opportunities to many people in the Ghanaian community. Students of leatherwork with their practical expertise can set up their own small-scale industries to cater for themselves and their families and more importantly even employ other persons. These areas of enterprises in leatherwork do not require huge capital for one to establish an enterprise. In fact, an individual can start the business right from his house with a small table and some few hand tools and materials. Let us use this unit to highlight some of these areas of enterprises in leatherwork.
Some of the areas of enterprises in leatherwork are:
1. Tanning
2. Upholstering
3. Designing and making leather items
4. Trading leather items
1. Tanning-
This area of enterprise deals with the production of leather as a material. It is responsible for the processing of hides and skins into leather. The leather artist can set up his own tannery as an enterprise where he would operate. Setting up a tannery though quite demanding, generates a lot of income. The artist should think seriously about the location, capital and labor force since these factors will largely affect the success or failure of his tannery enterprise.
2. Upholstering-
This sector of leatherwork concerns itself with the production of suitable furnishes for homes, offices, and more especially automobiles. It is a very wide area that provides several job avenues for leather craftsmen. They produce furniture, foot and arm rests, table mats, car seating, floral vases for decoration etc. With careful planning, this enterprise booms a lot of income for the leather craftsman.
3. Designing And Making Of Leather Items-
This area of enterprise deals with the production of products in leather. It embraces its designing as well as actual productions of the items. This duo-enterprise is a big income generating venture. The leather craftsman may even choose to operate in one of them for each of them promises financial prosperity.
The advancement in technology has opened a new form of designing of products in leather on the computer using art software programs such as CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Rhino, etc. A leather craftsman who is skilled in the use of any of these programs can make a living from it. Before products such as bags, shoes, slippers, furniture and others are produced, the preliminary designs are made by experts in this area of enterprise. The actual producers of these products also earn a lot of income. There are even specialties in the production of these items such as shoe producers, bag producers, furniture producers, belt producers etc.
4. Trading In Leather Items-
This aspect of leatherwork offers employment to several people whether or not they know much about leatherwork. They trade or offer leather products for sale. Most of the leather traders sell the leather items locally, especially in 'hot' or thriving market centers in the country whilst others export the leather products outside the country to earn foreign currencies.
To be effective in this enterprise, the trader in leatherwork has to be versed in costing, pricing, and marketing. He should be able to know which leather products to sell, where to sell them, how to sell them and when to sell them. Armed with this knowledge, he is set on the road to success in this enterprise.
