Vanda Berecz

Leatherworker

Fine leather sculptures

Vanda works primarily with leather to make utilitarian objects and fine art pieces
Her work is inspired by modularity and the world of natural and architectural structures
She pays special attention to the painting of the edges on her objects

Vanda Berecz always wanted to become a fashion designer. She studied dress modelling and has always sewn clothes for herself and her nearest and dearest. After her first year at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, she had to choose a specialisation and entered the leather workshop. She immediately felt at home there. "I loved the smells, the materials, the tools, the machines, and the fact that it was all a bit chaotic, a bit messy, but still a process that required incredible precision," she says. Her fascination for leather as a raw material only grew with time. "Leather is an incredibly versatile, flexible material, like nothing else. Some are thin, crisp and foldable, like paper, others are soft to the touch, stretchy and rigid, others again are hard like a piece of wood, but when wet become bendable," she explains. Today, Vanda makes bags for everyday use, but has become more interested in a fine art approach, focusing on creating conceptual pieces.

Interview

What unique techniques do you use?: I work with classic leather decoration techniques and mostly by hand: hand tailoring, gluing, machine or hand sewing, and hand edge painting. The latter is probably the most precise and time-consuming process. I paint with individually applied colours in several layers. I would not feel my objects were finished without it.
What inspires you in your work?: Plants, animals, mushrooms, anything that occurs in nature and can be interpreted as structures. But I am also interested in man-made forms, architecture, textiles, modular structures and more recently, images created by artificial intelligence. In a spiritual sense, it is the intense work with emotions that keeps me engaged and present in my creations.
What do you love most about your work?: My work can be broken down into three phases, and I love all three because they stimulate different aspects of my creativity. The first is an experimental, designing phase which is more intuitive, the second stage is when my engineering side comes into play, and the last stage is the finishing – here I rely on my hands, and it is very meditative.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in your profession?: The greatest challenges are the complexities of working with expensive raw materials, the time needed to obtain a high-quality finished product, the machinery and equipment needed to achieve this. In addition, the demand for handmade objects of artistic value can vary and I have to be resourceful to promote my work.

Vanda Berecz is a master artisan: she began her career in 2012 and she started teaching in 2015