Collection of leather crafting tools and supplies on a red background, including metal wooden tools, a black leather wallet, a small tin of Smith's leather balm, and various leathercrafting tools.

Meet the Maker

Young woman with short dark hair, wearing a black suit and white button up shirt, smiling in front of a textured gray and black background.

My name is Ying Stock-Bordnick, and I am a graduate student at Tulane University pursuing a master’s degree in materials science and engineering, as well as a New Orleans local. I’ve always been fascinated with natural materials—wood, stone, water, and leather, to name a few. The beauty of nature and its ingredients is quite captivating to me.

Before transferring to Tulane in the middle of my undergraduate sophomore year, I attended Sewanee, The University of the South in Tennessee where I spent the majority of my soccer off-season hiking in the woods and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of nature. I never knew nature could have such a profound impact on my view of the world, but I’m glad it does. Something about nature’s simple complexity will forever enchant me; thus, I draw a lot of inspiration from it.

One of my favorite things about leathercrafting is that I get to combine my innovative and creative mindset with my entrepreneurial spirit and engineering skills. I’ve always had an eye for aesthetics, and I’m so thankful to have discovered this outlet to exercise my passions. Thus, I strive to create products that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but are also simple, functional, and last a lifetime.

Below, I have shared a few quotes that describe my attitude towards life and design (and I’ll continue to add more as I discover them). Ponder them at your own leisure; you might just find something that resonates with you :)

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to learn more about me and my craft, if you have any questions, or if you just wanna chat. I’d love to hear from you :)

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy your visit!

Contact Me

  • "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

    Leonardo da Vinci

  • "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere."

    Vincent van Gogh

  • "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

  • "The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity."

    Douglas Horton

  • "Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works."

    Steve Jobs

  • "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

    Lao Tzu

  • "Form follows function."

    Louis H. Sullivan

  • "Nature is the source of all true knowledge."

    Leonardo da Vinci

  • "Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

    Bob Marley

  • "He who knows enough is enough will always have enough."

    Lao Tzu

  • "Colors are the smiles of nature."

    Leigh Hunt

  • "People can only meet you at the depths at which they have met themselves."

    Matt Kahn

  • "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience."

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

    Aristotle

  • "Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent."

    Joe Sparano

  • “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”

    Alice Walker

  • "A happy life must be a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live."

    Bertrand Russell

  • "Nature is orderly. That which appears to be chaotic in nature is only a more complex kind of order."

    Gary Snyder

  • "How difficult it is to be simple."

    Vincent van Gogh

  • "Art isn't in the tools, materials, or equipment you use. It's in the way you see the world."

    Rick Rubin

  • "Question everything."

    Albert Einstein

  • "True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing."

    Socrates

  • "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "Good design is as little design as possible."

    Dieter Rams

  • "A ship is always safe at shore, but that's not what it's built for."

    Albert Einstein

  • "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."

    Aristotle

  • "Love the life you live. Live the life you love.

    Bob Marley

  • "No artist tolerates reality."

    Nietzsche

  • "A loving heart is the truest wisdom."

    Charles Dickens

  • "Nature is not a place to visit. It's home."

    Gary Snyder

  • "Designing a product is designing a relationship."

    Steve Rogers

  • "Less is more."

    Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  • "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."

    Marcus Aurelius

  • "Don't gain the word and lose your soul. Wisdom is better than silver or gold."

    Bob Marley

  • "It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple."

    Steve Jobs

  • "Quality is not an act, it is a habit."

    Aristotle

  • "Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

    Albert Einstein

  • "If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

    African Proverb

  • "It is vain to do with more what can be done with less."

    William of Ockham

  • "There are four natural sanctuaries: silence, solitude, stillness and simplicity."

    Brianna Wiest

  • "The quieter you become, the more you hear."

    Ram Daas

  • "Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this Nature he's destroying is this God he's worshipping."

    Hubert Reeves

  • "Accomplishing goals is not success. How much you expand in the process is."

    Brianna Weist

  • "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable."

    Cesar A. Cruz

  • "The fears we don't face become our limits."

    Robin Sharma

  • "If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough."

    Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

  • "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."

    Mahatma Gandhi

  • "When life gives you lemons, make apple juice."

    Ying Stock-Bordnick

  • "If you want to learn what someone fears losing, watch what they photograph."

    Anonymous

  • "Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have the answers."

    Socrates

  • "The unexamined life is not worth living."

    Socrates

  • "A wise man speaks because he has something to say; a fool because he has to say something."

    Plato

  • "There is beauty in that which is stronger than we are."

    Alain de Botton

  • "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

    Helen Keller

  • "One must not wish first to understand and then to feel. Art does not tolerate reason."

    Albert Camus

  • "Life was never meant to be understood. It was meant to be felt."

    Alan Watts

  • "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."

    Søren Kierkegaard

  • "To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded."

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "If you think the price of success is too high, wait until you get the bill for regret."

    Tim Grover