Handcrafted to the last stitch

• • McDonald is a self-taught leather craftsman
• • He grew up in a family of creatives who continue to inspire him
• • His objects are hand-stitched from start to finish using Zimbabwean leather

McDonald Muringani was born into an artistic family. His interest in leatherwork began as a hobby in 2015. He trained with a leather craft artisan but is mostly self-taught. He moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where an encounter with a bicycle shop owner provided a job crafting leather saddles and handlebars for old bikes. McDonald opened a workshop which he closed in 2022 to return to Zimbabwe. He also had a shop which he was forced close due to the pandemic. In 2022 he opened his Harare workshop. McDonald works with Zimbabwean vegetable-tanned hard leather used for belts and saddles and soft leather for upholstery. His craft thrives on collaborations, and his most ambitious project to date has been hand-stitching a golf club bag for a professional golfer.