Peter Main (1949-2026)

Peter Main was an Australian leather artist, designer, author, and educator whose influence extended across the international leathercraft community for more than five decades. Known for exceptionally precise carving, embossing, coloring, construction, and finishing, Main was equally respected for his willingness to teach and for the encouragement he gave to other leatherworkers.

His work ranged well beyond a single leatherworking tradition. He created pictorial and figure carvings, dimensional and embossed leatherwork, fine bindings, cases, jewelry, flowers, and intricately constructed pieces. His distinctive approach to coloring and his attention to small details became particular hallmarks of his work. Main's own biography described him as largely self-taught, and his accomplishments earned international recognition through exhibitions, workshops, books, and generations of students.

Main died in August 2026. News of his death prompted tributes from leatherworkers around the world, many of whom remembered not only the standard of his work but the generosity with which he shared what he knew.

Early career and graphic design

Before pursuing leatherwork full time, Main spent approximately 25 years running a successful graphic design studio in Sydney, Australia. He retired from the business in 1995, allowing him to devote more of his time to leather art, publishing, exhibitions, and teaching. His professional background in graphic design remained visible throughout his leathercraft career, particularly in his attention to composition, typography, presentation, and the design of instructional material.

Main's experience as a designer also contributed to an unusually broad view of leathercraft. Rather than treating tooling as an isolated skill, he approached a finished piece as a combination of design, carving, color, construction, and presentation. That ability to move comfortably among disciplines became one of the characteristics that distinguished his work.

Development as a leather artist

Main developed a highly recognizable style built around control, precision, and careful observation. His leatherwork included carving and embossing, realistic coloring, dimensional construction, hand sewing, case making, fine binding, delicate jewelry, and sculptural flowers. His work frequently demonstrated techniques that pushed leather beyond the appearance of a flat, decorated surface.

Color was an especially important part of his approach. Students recalled his careful building of color in small stages, his use of spirit dyes, and his ability to create depth without overwhelming the carving beneath it. He also taught techniques involving modeling tools, embossing, skiving, edge treatment, airbrushing, and dimensional construction.

The breadth of Main's work made him difficult to categorize simply as a Western leather carver. Australian flora and fauna appeared prominently in his early published work, while other pieces reflected influences gathered through decades of studying leather art, fine craft, design, and the work of other artists.

Relationship with Al and Ann Stohlman

One of the most important relationships in Main's career was his friendship with Al and Ann Stohlman.

The Stohlmans first met Main in 1982, after Ken Gregson arranged for the Australian artist to visit them in Canada. The relationship developed through years of correspondence, photographs, and visits. Ann Stohlman later recalled that Al was so impressed with Main's work that he frequently showed visitors photographs of Peter's latest pieces. Main also assisted the Stohlmans with typography and page layout, drawing on his professional graphic design experience.

The respect was mutual. Al and Ann wrote the foreword to Main's first major book, Australian Leather Carving, and Main later became one of the people entrusted with preserving and presenting portions of their artistic archive. His later publications included books built around Stohlman techniques, memories, drawings, and previously unpublished patterns.

Main was selected as a 1998 recipient of the Al Stohlman Award for Achievement in Leathercraft. Ann Stohlman personally presented the award in 1999. Her tribute noted the extraordinary range of his abilities as well as his unusual gift for teaching and sharing his knowledge.

Teaching and international influence

Teaching became one of the defining parts of Main's legacy.

By the early 1980s, he was already teaching leatherworkers in Australia. A workshop in Brisbane helped introduce his methods to a growing community of Queensland leatherworkers, and his repeated visits helped develop a network that eventually included the Leathercrafters Association of Queensland and the Dimensions in Leather conferences.

Over the following decades, Main traveled extensively to teach and exhibit. His official biography records instruction in the United States, Japan, England, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Norway, as well as Australia. He also spent many years living and working in Houston, Texas, while maintaining strong connections with the Australian leathercraft community.

Accounts from his students consistently describe a teaching style that was demanding without being rigid. Main was interested in helping leatherworkers understand why something worked rather than simply asking them to imitate him. 

That influence multiplied through his students. Several contributors to the 2024 Leather Crafter's & Saddlers Journal tribute described taking Main's techniques back to their own workshops and classrooms, meaning his approach was passed from one generation of teachers to another.

Books and published work

Publishing allowed Main's instruction and research to reach leatherworkers who could never attend one of his classes.

His first major publication, Australian Leather Carving, appeared in 1997. The 48-page, full-color book presented step-by-step carving of Australian flora and fauna while also teaching techniques that could be applied to many styles of leather carving.

Other important books and compilations include:

Stohlman Step-by-Step adapted Al Stohlman's methods for carving leaves, scrolls, acorns, flowers, and other traditional designs into a concise instructional format. The later Personal Patterns Portfolio volumes preserved designs from Al and Ann Stohlman's private pattern archive, with Main redrawing and presenting the material so that relationships between lines, beveling, overlapping elements, and background areas were easier for leatherworkers to interpret.

These publications reveal another important part of Main's contribution to leathercraft. He was not only producing new work of his own. He also invested considerable effort in documenting, organizing, and preserving the knowledge of earlier leatherworkers so that it would remain usable by future generations.

Awards and recognition

Main accumulated an extraordinary exhibition record over the course of his career. His official biography credits him with 47 first-place awards and 18 Standards of Excellence at the Sydney Royal Show. At the World Leather Debut, he received nine first-place awards as well as Best of Show.

His selection for the Al Stohlman Award placed him among the leathercraft community's most influential artists and educators. The award was particularly meaningful because Al Stohlman himself had wanted Main to receive the honor years earlier.

Peter Main as a mentor

The technical accomplishments tell only part of Main's story.

The 2024 tribute published in Leather Crafter's & Saddlers Journal brought together leatherworkers from Australia, the United States, Canada, Norway, Greece, Japan, South Africa, and elsewhere who described his influence on their lives and work. Again and again, the same qualities appeared: generosity, patience, humor, curiosity, and an expectation that people were capable of improving.

Peter often encouraged artists to take one more step, examine their work more closely, sharpen a tool properly, clean an edge, refine a color, or slow down rather than rush toward completion. Yet he also warned against allowing perfectionism to remove the enjoyment from the craft.

Those recollections help explain why Main's influence became so widespread. Students did not simply leave his classes with another technique. Many left with a different way of evaluating their own work.

Legacy

Peter Main occupies an unusual place in modern leathercraft because his legacy exists simultaneously as an artist, teacher, designer, author, historian, and mentor.

His technical work expanded expectations for what could be accomplished through carving, embossing, coloring, and dimensional leather construction. His workshops carried those techniques around the world. His books allowed them to reach an even larger audience. His friendship with Al and Ann Stohlman also placed him in a unique position to help preserve an important chapter of leathercraft history.

Perhaps most significantly, Main shared his knowledge freely. The testimonials gathered during his lifetime show how often he personally encouraged leatherworkers, answered questions, critiqued work, mailed reference material, introduced artists to one another, and helped students develop the confidence to pursue ideas that initially seemed beyond their ability.

When his death was announced in August 2026, leatherworkers around the world described the loss not simply as the passing of a great artist, but as that of a teacher whose influence had become part of their own work. 

That influence continues through his artwork, books, students, archived patterns, and the countless leatherworkers who learned from Peter Main either across a workbench or through the pages of one of his books.

Frequently asked questions

What was Peter Main best known for in leathercraft?
Peter Main was known for highly refined leather carving, embossing, coloring, dimensional work, construction, and finishing. He was also internationally recognized as a teacher and author.

Was Peter Main Australian?
Yes. Main began his career in Sydney, Australia, and remained deeply connected to Australian leathercraft throughout his life. He later spent many years living and working in Houston, Texas.

What was Peter Main's relationship with Al and Ann Stohlman?
Main became a close friend and colleague of Al and Ann Stohlman after meeting them in 1982. They admired his work, collaborated with him on publications, and entrusted him with portions of their artistic and pattern archive.

Did Peter Main receive the Al Stohlman Award?
Yes. He was selected as a 1998 recipient of the Al Stohlman Award for Achievement in Leathercraft, with Ann Stohlman presenting the honor in 1999.

What books did Peter Main write?
His publications include Australian Leather Carving, Stohlman Step-by-Step, The Main Technique of Coloring Leather, Al & Ann Stohlman Memories, and collections preserving patterns from Al and Ann Stohlman's personal archives.

External links

Postcards for Peter: In Loving Memory of Peter Main
1998 Al Stohlman Award Winner - Peter Main
Peter Main Leathercraft Books at Learn Leathercraft

 

Written By: Michael Magnus
Edited By:
Contributions By: Leatherworkers whose recollections appeared in The Profound Influence of Peter Main

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