Creative projects were par for the course in the childhood home of Corona Heights resident Scott Tal, 36, for whom product design seemed a natural calling. After a five-year apprenticeship with Béatrice Amblard—a former Hermès ambassador and the leather artisan behind April in Paris, the luxurious Clement Street label—Tal launched Tauro Leather in 2009. “I started producing merchandise within my first few weeks under [Amblard’s] tutelage,” he recalls. “She told me she had never met anyone who could do that.”

Exemplifying the work of a skilled hand, Tal’s collection of meticulously crafted bags, belts, wallets, and accessories stems from an ethos of simplicity and quality. The flashlight shown here—made of reclaimed wood, leather, and brass and burnished with organic beeswax—was commissioned by Headlands Center for the Arts for its annual art auction in June and was scooped up by Robin Williams at Headlands’ summer open house in July. Get your own online on the Headlands Center's site, or look for Tal’s pieces, including new accessories from an ongoing collaboration with Italian designer Andrea Cammarosano, 
at MAC.

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