Tom Berney's Buan is a passionate success

When you have a passion for your craft skills and are equally passionate about your wish to be in business for yourself, a natural nexus is formed, writes Brian Byrne. That doesn’t mean it will be easy. But it does prompt consideration on whether you should follow your heart.

That’s what Tom Berney did three years ago. A scion of the world-famous Kilcullen saddle-making family, he had the skills and love of working with leather in his DNA. He was also in the process of completing a course of study in business. It was while he was in College that he had made the prototype for what would be the core product of the business he now calls Buan.

“I saw a leather tote bag in a vintage shop, and liked it, and knew that I could make one like it myself,” he said last week as he marked Buan's third anniversary. “So I did, and I also made a couple to sell from the family shop in Kilcullen, and they went within the week. After that I advertised them on my Instagram page and orders came in from my friends very quickly, so I thought I could be on to something." In addition to the tote he also designed a crossbody ladies bag.

Tom graduated from college, and then came decision time about the future direction of his life. But so also came the pandemic. Which, despite its serious aspects, was also useful. “The whole Covid thing actually gave me time to think about it, and work out what were my options. That's when I decided I really wanted to be in business for myself.” Up to then he had been manufacturing his pieces as a small sideline project, in a borrowed space of the work area behind the family saddlery shop. If he was to make this a proper business, he decided he needed to set up a dedicated workshop at his home in Athgarvan. 

He also needed more than just a couple of bag designs. On his Buan website today, there’s a wide and growing range of items for sale, including coin purses, wallets, belts, a journal cover, keyfobs and more. “They have all come quite organically, sometimes an idea of my own, others from suggestions by friends.” Once Tom has developed an idea from what may have been a one-off commission, with the template made it is worth putting it up and see what interest there might be. "Not every product will be as successful as others, but you just have to see." He also notes that every product has changed a lot from the first time he made them, being tweaked over time as he sees ways of making them a bit better.

He has been experimenting with other materials than leather, including making purses and wallets from upcycled rubber, from worn tyres sourced from Heffernan Tyres in Kildare. “It’s a much more difficult material to work with than leather, but they are quite popular. I’m very interested in sustainability, so I see myself trying to upcycle in other materials as we go along.”

In part because of Covid, Buan has relied on the internet for marketing the products up to now. "From the beginning, it has been almost all online. Using the social media platforms gives me a chance to interact with my customers." But in recent times, mentions in the gift guides of national news media have also brought in orders. “That's actually been huge recently — I've seen activity and orders on the website spiking after each one of those.”

A craft worker on his own has an absolute limit on the amount of product he can make himself, and from his business training at some stage in the future Tom knows he may have to take on someone to work with him if the enterprise is to scale up. But that’s for the future. “At the moment it’s working quite well, a lot of the work in setting up systems for a business — the website and marketing development, for instance — takes time. But most of that is now done, and I have more time to actually produce. And I can get ahead in the quiet times and build stock for the busy times, like Christmas.”

Tom and his girlfriend Irati, a key part of marketing the business.

Working on his own in his Athgarvan workshop seems to suit Tom’s temperament, but he also has both a sounding board for product ideas and a working colleague in his girlfriend Irati, who hails from the Basque country in Spain. “Irati does a lot of work with the marketing, and she is also artistic — she has recently been making small jewellery items with the leather offcuts from my own work.”

As he looks back on three years of following his heart in a new business, Tom is so far satisfied that he has made the right choice. “There have been ups and downs, but overall it’s going stronger than ever,” he says with satisfaction, before getting back to his bench to deal with another order, or noodle around with an idea for something new. Or, probably both.

Note: This article was first published in The Kildare Nationalist.

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