Couple finds creative outlet in leatherwork

When Ben Barckholtz picked up leatherworking, his wife Sam Dankhert jokingly said that he didn’t need another hobby. But after joining him in the workshop to make some Christmas gifts, Dankert was hooked too.

The husband-wife team now creates high quality leather bags and accessories under the name Beargrass Leather.

“Sam had a picture on her Pinterest board of a leather fly fishing bag and I told her she’d never find it, so we’d just have to make it,” said Barckholtz. “It was just something to do to relieve some stress, but three bags in and it was clear we would be doing it a lot.”

With Dankhert fresh out of the Air Force and raising two small children, leather working was the much needed creative outlet that allowed her to spend quality time with her husband.

“It was kind of a friendly competition, which is the best kind of competition,” Dankhert said with a laugh. “Because he is a teacher and likes to research and figure things out, I let him start a project and then I finish things. We work well together.”

“The working environment became a good symmetry to the whole relationship.” Barckholtz.

Though Beargrass Leather specializes in handbags, they also create collections featuring clothing, hats, belts, luggage tags, eyewear cases, journals, and wallets. Along with these products, Dankhert hopes to break ground with vegetable tanned leather to create more artistic pieces such as a leather teapot she made for Montana Modern Fine Art Gallery’s exotic teapot show.

“Leather can be imagined in so many different ways. It's got grain, it's got scars, it's got character, and it's always very personalized,” said Dankhert. “I’ve made bags with quilt designs on them which are born out of our scraps which are tiny geometric pieces.”

To express her more creative side, Dankhert spent 2022 creating handbags that featured each month’s birth flower, all of which Dankhert cut, beaded, and painted by hand. The couple draw inspiration from geometric artwork, local artists such as Julianne Ketcher and Marshall Noice, and the impressionist movement.

“When Henri Matisse got older and was dealing with sickness, all he could do was make paper cut outs. That’s been a huge inspiration for me and it’s what got me into doing the appliqués on my bags,” said Dankhert.

Currently, Barckholtz and Dankhert are on the hunt for a place to sell locally, but their products can be found online or at several craftsmen shows in Montana such as the Western Design Conference.

“The Western Design Conference has been really big for us,” said Barcholtz. “We were accepted the first year we applied and won second place in the leather category which was really rewarding. The next year, Sam got honorable mention in the fashion show. Not only did they like our leather work the first year, but they really appreciated our entire aesthetic and how we dreamed the company to be. It was the boost we needed,” said Barckholtz.

This year, Beargrass Leather will be at the Western Design Conference in Jackson Hole from Sept. 7 to 10. Meanwhile, Barcholtz and Dankhert hope to reconnect locally and inspire people to buy quality, handmade and local bags.

“We like to call our products modern heirlooms because they can last up to 100 years if you treat it right. I still have my bag that I made 6 years ago and I use it all the time,” said Dankhert. “We go out of our way for our customers. We will spend hours on your bag and make sure it's something that we’d want to carry ourselves.”

Beargrass Leather can be found online at beargrassleather.com or on Instagram @beargrassleather. To contact, reach out to beargrassleather@gmail.com.

Reporter Summer Zalesky may be reached at szalesky@dailyinterlake.com.