Are you cocktail drinker who wants to up your cool quotient? You already drink the local stuff, and you already hang in trendy bars. Now what? Belle Hilmer to the rescue.
Hilmer, owner of the Maine Leather Co., crafts elegant, statement-making leather cozies for Mason jars, such as might hold your pear shrub with rum and ginger. Most are decorated very simply with a single-thread, hand-stitched profile of the state of Maine, but she also does customized work. For weddings, she’ll stitch Mr. and Mrs. on the cozies, or groomsmen’s initials. She’ll also work with company names and logos.
Hilmer has been doing leather work for four years out of a studio in her Portland home. Her line of Mason jar cozies grew out of a customer request. She understands the appeal because she likes to use the jars herself. They’re versatile. “Mason jars are sometimes, I think, underrated,” she said.
The thick leather used for the cozies is hand selected by Hilmer from a tannery in Hartland. Not only is that a local source, Hilmer said, “it’s some of the best leather in the world.”
Hilmer said she’s experimented with other raw materials, such as goat leather, “but there’s really nothing like that American cowhide right from Maine.”
Want to trick out your Mason jar cozy even more? Add a lid Hilmer sells that makes the jar easier to drink out of – but be warned, it might make your hipster-friendly Mason jar look more like a sippy cup for adults.
Hilmer’s Mason jar cozies cost $25 (or $30 with the lid) and can be purchased through her website at maineleatherco.com
For custom requests, contact Hilmer at belle@maineleatherco.com
Hilmer also makes cozies for beer bottles, cans and pint glasses that your craft beer-drinking friend might enjoy.
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