WildMoor Tannery
Re-establishing a symbiotic relationship with nature's resources
Our ultimate goal is to promote a life that provides a greater symbiosis with our natural surroundings, working along side nature, encouraging growth rather than decay.
Our mission is to Rewild the surrounding lands which have become lacking in diversity.
To do so, we have mastered the art of traditional tanning, nature provides us with all the materials to do so, using oak bark and deer skins, we can sustainably create practical hard wearing leather.
The woodlands have provided the ingredients for us to create leather, to keep us warm, to protect our feet and in return; we preserve, regenerate and rewild the lands of the south west of England.
By creating more woodlands and diversity we can depend on our local surroundings for more resources, providing a cleaner, more sustainable future.
WildMoor Cycle of Sustainability
How we make it happen..
From Bark to Bag to Bark again.....our goal is to increase the habitats which bio-diversity can thrive and in turn creating more natural resources to use in our everyday life.
So how do we do this?
1. Deer Skins and bark are collected from our sustainable sources.
Fallen or felled trees are cut to maintain the health of the woodland. These tree are selectively peeled' of their bark. The deer skins are collected by associate deer stalkers, who have licenses to manage and monitor deer population in various lands.
2. The skins and bark are hand crafted into leather in our micro-tannery.
The hides go through a process of vegetable tanning which uses non-toxic agents extracted from the bark which we have harvested from our associate woodland . For more of this process please see our 'Micro-tannery' section.
3. Artisan Bags, boots and other useful items are made from our leather.
Our artisans use the handcrafted leather to create products that will be used in everyday life. Deer leather is an excellent material for footwear and is highly regarded by bespoke shoemakers.
4. Profits from our craft items are used to rewild the local countryside.
From procuring of land for new woodland to woodland regeneration and maintenance or even propagating seedlings, it all takes time and money, so all of our profits go directly into our rewinding projects.
5. Increase of woodland and deer habitats. Our Rewilding and maintenance projects increase bio-diversity in our countryside while providing greater sources of bark and deer skins to complete the cycle while making a UK wilderness.
Why Deer?
In the UK there are no natural predators of deer remaining in these lands (silly humans), therefore extensive deer management is required. Every year roughly 350,000 deer are culled to help ensure a healthy and sustainable deer population.
The culled deer are harvested and sold for meat but the 'hide' or 'skin' of the animal is discarded.
We truly believe in reducing waste, utilising local materials and resources, being conscious about our consumption of food and materials. Having to manage the deer population provides us with a sustainable resource that can be used to increase bio-diversity and natural habitats in the UK.
