Although he and his wife, Barbara, go about their business quietly and without fanfare, their presence in downtown Hingham is deeply felt. Much to the relief of their loyal customers, the couple recently was able to relocate their shop to 105 North St. when the 40 North St. building they had partially occupied since 1973 was sold.

“After we moved, we had old customers calling us up asking, ‘Where are you?’” O’Callaghan said. “They were really freaked out when they thought we were gone.”

Hingham resident Jane Hanron is “delighted” that Renaissance Leather will continue to operate downtown. “It would have been terrible to lose them. Their kind of talent isn’t found much these days,” she said. “The O’Callaghans were wonderful neighbors when the Unique Boutique, a thrift shop run by volunteers for the Hingham Visiting Nurse Association, was next door. They were friendly, pleasant, and very helpful.”

When scheduled to work at the Unique Boutique, Hanron would greet Patrick in the morning and ask him what he was making that day. “He was always working on the most interesting projects,” Hanron said.

The O’Callaghans work at what might be considered a fading art, and their business is thriving.

Once inside the shop, customers are amazed at the array of unique handcrafted wares, ranging from business card holders, briefcases, and knapsacks to coin purses, make up cases, vests, and sandals – many made to order – using top-grain cowhide. O’Callaghan even made a leather Jeep handle once to replace an inside metal one that had fallen off. The owner liked it better than the original one. O’Callaghan also repairs leather belts and jackets.

The latest offerings include handsome black and white tote bags and also what O’Callaghan jokingly calls the “Hershey’s Kiss” bag – made of gold leather with black trim.

The new shop – which is set back from the street -- still has an appealing, laid-back 1970s aura combined with an Old World flavor. Strings of beads hang from the window, and antique suitcases covered with backstage passes to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, and Grateful Dead concerts casually on display bring back memories.

A work in progress, the new shop has space-saving wooden storage lofts crafted by O’Callaghan. “These create an open feeling and allow customers to get a sense of the smell of the leather – what it feels and looks like,” he said, whereas in the old shop the leather was stored in the back room.

Genuine leather

The O’Callaghans craft each item – one at a time – from genuine leather.

“There’s nothing like the smell of real leather,” O’Callaghan said. “Leather is very sensuous when you smell, feel, and look at it.”

Where did the name “Renaissance Leather” come from?
“I think of that period as an age when art and science came together,” O’Callaghan said.

O’Callaghan is a self-taught craftsman.
He notes that the long-lasting business grew out of the 1970s philosophy that anything is possible. More than 30 years ago, as he was admiring a friend’s sheepskin coat, it occurred to him that he could make one for himself. He was right. “I just assume I can do everything,” he said modestly.

From there, O’Callaghan tried his hand at belts. Then friends began asking him to make items for them, and he did.

Now, thousands and thousands of projects later, ask O’Callaghan to make almost anything and he can do it. He has several photo albums of photos of most of his work – everything from doctor’s bags and re-covered leather couches and chairs to chaps inlaid with dragon and flower designs and a saddle bag decorated with some 1,000 rhinestones for a woman who owns a white motorcycle. A leather trash bucket crafted by O’Callaghan sits in one of the offices at the StateHouse. O’Callaghan also makes sandals and belts for the Glastonbury Monastery monks.

Other projects include a guitar strap and front for a German Hank Williams impersonator, a hat band and luggage for country-western singer Charlie Daniels, and a guitar strap for rock and roll star Bob Seeger.

O’Callaghan also made a reproduction Elvis Presley belt at a customer’s request and a gun holster for a man planning a hike in Alaska who feared he might encounter grisly bears.

Creative approach

O’Callaghan likes to “play around” in the shop. “That’s where I get my ideas,” he said. “I’m not driven by how much money I’ll get but by what entertains me.”

An example of this is the plastic container he covered with pink leather on a whim — “just for fun,” he said with a smile.

One day several years ago he answered the phone and Neil Young was on the other end, asking O’Callaghan to work on his leather motorcycle bag and chaps. At first he thought it was a prank call, but when Young mentioned a leather bag O’Callaghan had made for a friend of Young’s, he realized the call was for real.

The multi-talented O’Callaghan (he also fixes computers, builds websites, works on old BMWs, and does cabinetry work) still uses an 80-year-old foot-operated treadle Singer sewing machine. “It’s not how fast it goes that counts but how slow it goes to get things right,” he said, pointing to a place in the pouch he was sewing that needed a pucker.

As he shared his thoughts about this fast-dying art, O’Callaghan finished off a Civil War “Rebel” hat he was custom-making for a fellow “who just wanted one.”

When asked what purpose it would serve, he responded with a slight grin, “No particular reason that I know of. We don’t ask questions!”

Also in the works was an order of 300 drawstring pouches from a New Hampshire company that manufactures fishing reels. The pouches are used to ship and store the reels. He recently made four padded leather columns with brass nails for use between bookshelves in a local show home.

O’Callaghan’s manner may be low-key, but he is amazingly productive.

“I’ll show you something I made this morning,” he said, holding out a black leather portfolio and checkbook cover.

O’Callaghan’s philosophy is that “if you’re talking about what you did yesterday, then you haven’t done anything today!”

Unique items and services offered include maps of the world he carves and letters, a Celtic drum case, a rifle sheath, boards for monopoly and chess, and antiques restoration, including repairing a suit of armor that was held together with leather straps.

The leather comes from a number of sources, including Ipswich, Mass., New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, California, and even West Germany.

O’Callaghan has also restored a seat on a bicycle made in the 1800s and the red seats in a 1961 Jaguar. Among his most challenging projects was rebuilding the front and rear leather seats and door panels of a 1957 Mercedes.

Elf shoes

Among his most unusual work are the leather goggles he made for a terrier who liked to sit on the back of his owner’s motorcycle and the elf shoes, red leather tunic, and green leather hat he crafted for the father of a Nantucket shop owner who plays that role every year at Christmastime.

His wife makes all the leather wallets, belts, roses, birds and desk boxes. “Barbara also does all the book work and organizing,” O’Callaghan said. “She was responsible for our recent move. If it wasn’t for my wife’s organizational skills, this place would be total madness!”

Much of their business comes by word of mouth -- and in earlier years, from hanging around backstage at rock concerts -- because the O’Callaghans don’t advertise. “All roads lead here,” he said.

A Quincy woman recently sent him a photo of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock wearing a fringed tan leather vest and asked him to make her a copy. “This will take days to make, and then I will show her how to do the bead work,” O’Callaghan said. “That way it will be a little less expensive and she’ll have a connection with it. I like to get people involved.”

Many customers return year after year, while others who move away often come back years later when they’re in the area. “This is unique stuff,” O’Callaghan said without a trace of self-aggrandizement. “I like to help customers design the items that they order. Everyone’s a designer. They just don’t know it.”

Customers feel free to browse or to just stop by and shoot the breeze. “This is definitely a place where you can take your tie off,” O’Callaghan said. “You have the freedom here to just be yourself.”

More information about the shop and the O’Callaghans’ custom leather products, including photographs, is available by visiting Renaissance Leather in person or online at www.queenleather.com.

The website is so-named because Barbara’s nickname is “Queenie.” Another reason for the name is that following a fire in the old North Street shop during the 1980s, the O’Callaghans noticed an undated contract for some saddle work-- stuck in one of the walls -- from the Queen of England.

Besides, explained Callaghan, “A lot of people have trouble spelling ‘Renaissance,’ whereas ‘queen’ is easy to spell!”