The gift
Whenever Mozhdeh and Ramesh met, she would ask him what he wanted as a gift. Ramesh was never particularly interested in gifts. Most of the time, he didn't really have an answer.
Around that time, he liked the Pink Panther. So instead of buying something from a shop, Mozhdeh found someone who made things by hand using clay and asked them to make a Pink Panther specially for him. She wanted it to be something that wasn't available to anyone else. She told him that nobody else could have that particular one — it had been made especially for him.
Ramesh also liked vintage cars. So later she had a small vintage Ford model made for him in steel, through someone who made metal models and toys.
For her, these weren't simply things to give someone. She liked the idea of making something personal.
At some point, Ramesh told her she didn't need to have other people make things for him. He said that if she made something herself, that would be enough. She remembered that.
"You don't have to make anything through other people. You can make anything for me. That's enough for me."
The wallet
Then something happened that gave her an idea. While Ramesh was in Bombay, his wallet was stolen. He had been using that wallet for a long time and was quite attached to it.
Mozhdeh wanted to give him another one. But she didn't want to simply go to a shop and buy one. She wanted to make it herself.
When she went back to Iran, she met a woman who worked with leather and made leather products, and Mozhdeh started learning from her. She didn't begin with the intention of becoming a leather manufacturer — she simply wanted to understand how to make a wallet. She learned the basics: cutting, assembling, constructing a leather product.
Once she understood the basic process, she decided to make one for Ramesh. It was going to be the first thing she had made for him with her own hands. And because it was for him, she wanted it to last. She didn't want to make something that would look good for a few months and then fall apart.
She started looking for good materials and accessories, searching for components from different places and choosing what she believed would make the wallet stronger and more durable. Then she made it. It was completely handmade — no machine stitching, made by her own hands.
At that point, neither of them knew that. It was simply a wallet she had made for Ramesh.
Then other people saw it
After Ramesh started using the wallet, people around them began noticing it. Relatives saw it. Then friends, and people in their close circle. They started asking Mozhdeh if she could make something similar for them.
- "Can you make one for my husband?"a relative
- "Can you make one for my brother?"a relative
- "Can you make one for my friend?"a friend
It wasn't advertising. There wasn't a marketing campaign. People were simply seeing something she had made and asking if she could make one for them too. That was how the idea of making leather products for other people started.
Learning more
As the requests increased, Mozhdeh became more serious about leather. She started studying the design and technical side of it more deeply — different types of leather, construction methods, design, craftsmanship. She wanted to understand not only how to make something look good, but why one material or construction would last longer than another.
Eventually she began making leather products commercially in Iran. But the approach stayed largely the same as it had been with that first wallet: she didn't want to simply produce something and sell it. She wanted to know what she was actually selling.
The leather
One of the biggest challenges became finding leather she was satisfied with. She started collecting samples from different suppliers and different countries — taking them, making products from them, and examining how they performed: their feel, strength, construction, wear, how they behaved once turned into an actual product.
If she wasn't satisfied, she didn't use it. This took time, and it wasn't necessarily the most profitable way to make products — a cheaper material could reduce cost, a less expensive component could raise the margin. But that wasn't the direction she wanted to take. She was interested in making something a person could keep using for years. That became one of the reasons durability turned into such a defining part of the brand.
Every part matters
The same thinking went into the smaller components. For the bags, for example, Mozhdeh chose YKK zippers from Japan. The idea was simple: a leather bag shouldn't have good leather paired with poor-quality hardware. The leather, the zipper, the hardware, the stitching, the construction and the finishing all had to make sense together. The product had to work as a whole.
- 1,000+leather samples examined
- YKKzippers, from Japan
- 0machine stitches on the first wallet
- 17+years later, still in use
When it became a brand
By then, Mozhdeh had already been making leather products for some time — starting with a wallet for Ramesh, then requests from relatives, then friends, then more people. Eventually Ramesh began thinking that what she was making could become something bigger, and suggested they turn it into a proper brand.
They needed a name. Mozhdeh was open to using something else. Ramesh wasn't.
Mozhdeh Leather.— Ramesh
There was a simple reason for that. People already knew the products as things made by Mozhdeh. They would say things like "this is the bag Mozhdeh made," or "this is made by Mozhdeh." The quality people talked about was connected to her work, so Ramesh felt her name should stay part of it. And that is how the name Mozhdeh Leather stayed.
From her hands to a team
As the business grew, Mozhdeh started hiring people. But hiring meant something important — she now had to teach other people how she wanted the products made. She trained employees and gradually built a manufacturing process around the standards she had developed herself.
The company grew beyond one person making one wallet. But the reason it existed hadn't really changed. She still wanted to make leather products properly. She still spent time looking at materials. She still cared about construction and durability. And she still didn't want to use something simply because it was cheaper.
Still being used.
The wallet that started everything was made in . Ramesh still has it. He still uses it.
It was never made as a prototype for a future company. It wasn't made to demonstrate a product line, or for a customer. It was made by Mozhdeh for Ramesh, after his old wallet was stolen. That was all.
But that small personal gift eventually became the beginning of a company. It didn't start with the idea of building a leather brand. It started because Mozhdeh wanted to make something herself, for someone she cared about. She learned how to make a wallet. She made one. People saw it. They asked her to make more. And slowly, over the years, those requests turned into Mozhdeh Leather.
Quick answers about Mozhdeh Leather
When did Mozhdeh Leather start?
It began in 2009 with a single handmade wallet that Mozhdeh made for Ramesh. Relatives and friends then asked for their own, and the requests grew into the brand Mozhdeh Leather.
Who started Mozhdeh Leather?
Mozhdeh learned leatherwork in Iran and made the first wallet by hand. Ramesh suggested turning her work into a proper brand and insisted it keep her name.
How was the first Mozhdeh Leather wallet made?
It was completely handmade with no machine stitching, using carefully chosen materials and components, after Ramesh's old wallet was stolen in Bombay.
How does Mozhdeh Leather choose its leather?
Mozhdeh examined more than 1,000 leather samples from suppliers in different countries, judging feel, strength, construction and wear. If she was not satisfied with a leather, she did not use it.
What zippers does Mozhdeh Leather use on its bags?
YKK zippers from Japan, so that good leather is not paired with poor-quality hardware.
Is the first wallet still in use?
Yes. The wallet made in 2009 is still used by Ramesh more than 17 years later.