JB Art and Craft is the creation of John Olander, a master leather-worker from Detroit, and resident of forty years in Africa.
Since the 1970’s, belts, briefcases, picture frames, and storage boxes made in John’s workshops in Sudan and Kenya have taken their place among their owners’ most prized possessions. Painstakingly constructed of double-stitched, high-grade leather, and fine-grained, lustrous African Blackwood, with inlays of silver and brass, they are virtually indestructible, each one designed to outlast both its maker and its owner.
John Olander’s unique design sense combines arabesque curves and decorative motifs from the natural world with meticulous functionality. A master of pattern work, he gives a jewel-like quality to the most solid and durable articles.
His expertise in leatherwork is the fruit of a lifetime’s immersion in the craft traditions of the old world – including apprenticeships in Germany, Morocco, and Lebanon – combined with innovation in the use of local materials.
Throughout John’s life as a craftsman he has been committed to passing his skills on to others. In the 1980’s, as Sudan descended into civil war, he established new workshops in Kaya, on the border with Uganda, and subsequently at Nakuru in Kenya.
John Olander’s own workshop in Nakuru form part of JB enterprises, a group that includes a water well-drilling company and a Sudanese shea-butter nut cooperative. A visit to JB Art and Craft is an absorbing experience. Cutting, grinding, burnishing, glueing, polishing, and finishing – every stage of wood and leather working can be seen here. Even the smallest article is unique, reflecting long dedication to this exacting craft.