Era Balestrieri is a leather artisan creating natural, vegetable-tanned custom works by hand for over 20 years.

Moving to Rome from her native San Francisco in 2003, she began apprenticing with Ferruccio Serafini, an octogenarian Roman saddler, Trasteverino, and local legend. His client list includes Anna Magnani, Marlon Brando, and J.F. Kennedy.  Through this ten-year apprenticeship, Balestrieri learned the technique and history of working with leather, while carving out her own niche with a focus on sustainability and respect for tradition.  She has received accolades from ELLE,  Fodor’s & The LUXE GUIDE to Rome, WWD, Guitar Aficionado, the New York Times Style Magazine, and Italian newspapers La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera and Il Tirreno. She creates her unique pieces by hand, working with clients, from naturally vegetable tanned leathers sourced locally from the Santa Croce Sull'Arno region. 

Since 2022, Era has been working with Federico Polidori, drawing further inspiration and expertise from one of Rome’s most accomplished leather artisans.

With a maximum production of fifty hand-made bags a year, she has become a member and advocate of the Slow Fashion movement.  The mission is to create pieces that are built to be in service long beyond the cycles of fashion. 

Era is married to a fourth generation farmer and shepherd in the Maremma region of Tuscany, located near the Mediterranean sea.  Her atelier is a converted stable, overlooking olive trees, vineyards, fields of grain and just beyond that, the slopes of Monte Amiata.  Besides all things leather, her imagination extends to the kitchen where she cooks for friends and family using her  homemade olive oil, wine and the produce from her vegetable gardens.  She finds inspiration from dark music, the subtleties of nature, Nabokov, and Italy in autumn.

Contact Era at ciao@erabalestrieri.com or by using our contact form below

Studio visits available by appointment

Portrait by Alex Asher Daniel