Walter paints a portrait with The Scout Plein Air Box. 

Time isn't very orderly these days.
It speeds up and slows down inexplicably.
This was this winter, or years ago.

Read the backstory of how Walter came to develop the Scout Plein Air Box, which was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. 

We've been going back to our roots, concocting four Of a Kind collections throughout the year - made from antique textiles and other miscellany gathered from abandoned houses, flea markets, and wherever else we can find them! This collection took a dramatic colour change and blends in with a lot of the treasures from nature that have been accumulating on my desk! ⁠

These collections go fast - we will send out an email announcement 3 hours before they are available – you will be able to look through each item in the collection at that time.⁠ Join our newsletter to receive the preview and launch announcements! ⁠

What happens when two founders meet, each of whom is already breaking new ground with her products, and whose similarities seem to leap to mind even before they’ve had a chance to talk? Exactly! Only good things can come out of it! And that’s exactly how things went between Wildling founder Anna Yona and Margaux Kent, who created the Peg and Awl brand together with her husband Walter. In a virtual meeting, the two founders chat about their brands, their everyday work life, and their collaboration.

Margaux, tell me... what do you do at Peg and Awl? And how did you come up with the idea of founding a company together?

Walter and I have always enjoyed doing things ourselves. My great passion is bookbinding, and Walter loves working with wood. In the beginning we rummaged around at a bunch of flea markets and rescued old wood from the rubble of torn down houses using Walter’s rusty pickup truck. We then used our finds to craft beautiful and useful items for our home.
A little over a year later our first son, Søren, was born and Walter and I got married in Iceland.

But barely a year went by before we founded Peg and Awl. I was pregnant with our second son, Silas, and Walter had just returned from a mission in Iraq. After celebrating our reunion, Walter headed straight for the workbench in the basement and built me a new book rest for the bathtub – a long-standing wish of mine. This gave rise to the idea of producing useful items that weren’t just for us, but for everyone.

Over the past ten years, Peg and Awl has grown significantly. What’s different now?

We started our company as a couple, and now we are a 15-person team handling all the work ourselves, from accounting and product design to production and sales. We’re still small but we’ve become much more efficient.

On top of that, we have most likely exhausted the local supply of old raw materials. In the beginning, we recycled antique leather – which was formerly used for rifle straps – to make our bags, and worked with reclaimed wood. But at a certain point we had to look for alternatives. I was even close to abandoning everything because I didn’t like the idea of buying conventional leather.

Fortunately I managed to find a producer virtually around the corner who offers vegetable-tanned organic leather – that’s something I can stand by personally and that’s what we’re working with now. The search for wood ended ten miles south of Pennsylvania, where we work. We found a 17th century sawmill that is still in operation and has processed hardwoods from the region for two decades.

While the sources for raw materials have changed a little, the rustic look of Peg and Awl products has been preserved and is also reflected in the Wildling model Griffin and the matching Silva bag that was inspired by it. How did this actually come about, Anna?

I’ve been following Peg and Awl for a very, very long time. Margaux’s newsletter is one of Wildling’s best-practice examples, and a picture of her tote bag is pinned on the mood board for our very first collection. I also have two bags and a backpack because I love the design, the rugged look and the materials. (At this point we can picture Anna enthusiastically holding a black canvas bag in front of the camera).

The approach of taking something old, something that at first glance may seem outdated, and creating something new that is not only beautiful but also becomes a part of your everyday life – that approach resonated with me immediately. Learning to value things again instead of just throwing them away is also one of the directions we want to pursue at Wildling. It was clear to me relatively quickly that I absolutely wanted to work with Margaux and her family to develop a new product.

You produced the Silva bag in Pennsylvania. What do you think of Griffin – the new Peg and Awl inspired Wildling? And how was the collaboration for you, Margaux?

Unfortunately I haven’t held a pair in my hands yet, but they look great in the photos! I can hardly wait to finally wear them. We like to walk barefoot a lot and we wear barefoot shoes, but I have never had a pair of Wildlings on before and I am really excited.

Our collaboration actually turned out to be kind of a blend of cooperation and contract work since we unfortunately couldn’t coordinate things with each other live and on site. If we ever work together on something again, I hope that we can meet in person. In that case, I would love to come to Germany, visit the studio, and fine-tune the designs together.

What do you think, Anna? Will there be a sequel?

I would be delighted if these two products were the first step and if they laid the foundation for further joint projects. I know that you originally wanted to make shoes at Peg and Awl – maybe someday there will be a Wildling that will help us bring your perfect shoe to life.

That sounds like things are going to remain interesting. We are looking forward to seeing more from both of you and are already so excited about where the journey is heading, dear Margaux and Anna!

  Photographs by @wildling.shoes

Our Bakehouse Collection is comprised of seven useful bags intended to replace common and disposable paper goods.

A trip into the old-country, by to-day's standards, proves to be thoroughly modern. To be sure, it is still quite sensible to bring along your sacks for the produce market and boulangerie as well as one for the frock shoppes.

We invite you to a little time travel...

No. 1 Pastry: A small, simple bag that works well with the other six. This pastry bag is perfect for a morning cookie, pastry, or an afternoon snack!

No. 2 Snack: I imagine this on road trips with pistachios or grapes, pretzels or rice cakes. This snack bag is also perfect for any loose snack fitted for day trips and lunches for little people and big people too!

No. 3 Wine: This one fits a bottle or two. It's also good for olive oil and I am certain, other things. This wine bag – traded at a market and stuffed with two bottles of wine – is perfect for bringing wine home or giving as a gift!

No. 4 Baguette: Quite perfect for just such loaves! No more one timers. Use this on repeat. This baguette bag is perfect for those who frequently fetch baguettes from the local bakery or farmers’ market, or for those bread makers who find the gifting of fresh baked bread irresistible!

No. 5 Bread: For bread bakers, buyers and gifters! This bread bag – scooped up with a delicious loaf of fresh baked bread – is perfect for those who regularly bring a hearty loaf along to a picnic, afternoon adventure, or friendly meeting.

No. 6 Petite Market (Right): Good for lunches, markets, or any other kind of little-thing-shopping. Our Petite Market bag – scooped up with a delicious trio of salads – is perfect for those who share lunch, have a big mid-day appetite or for a visit to your local cheese shoppe.

No. 7 Market (Left): Perfect for every kind of shopping. Our Market bag – actually received with a dress within – is a large shopping bag strong enough to suit whatever your gathering needs may be!

Our zero waste washable cotton bags were made after scouring our city’s best cafes for the most useful shapes in paper bags. These bags are all made from locally sourced 100% cotton canvas, and are therefore washable!

"I cannot remember the books I have read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me." Ralph Waldo Emerson 

All the Names is a jewelry collection that incorporates brass frames from mid-1800s Daguerreotype and Ambrotype photograph hinge cases that once framed faces whose names are forever lost.  

In 1847, preservers or brass frames, were added to hinge photograph cases. They wrapped the glass, mat and image to protect the delicate photograph. We have taken the cases apart and transformed them into jewelry. 

When we come into contact with the past through old journals, well-worn objects, family stories, &c, we are altered by them and them by us. The same is true in the making and experiencing of objects that incorporate elements or stories from the past. What seems immutable is, by dint of our footfalls in the dusty attic, made different. 

All of these names, with the exception of Beatrice, after my grandmother, have come from characters in books and are some of the bits that have in some way, made me.

• Lotte, named from Goethe's Sorrow's of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Dorian, named from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Eulalie, named from the poem Eulalie by Edgar Allan Poe
• Hanta, named from Too Loud A Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
• Valéne, named from Life: A Users Manual by Georges Perec
• Fermina, named from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
• Tereza, named from The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
• Lucy, named from Heap House by Edward Carey

As the rings stack, new journeys unfold. With All the Names we offer the possibility to wear a fragment of someone’s history that changes yet again when a ring slips onto your finger, or a pendant around your neck. 

Chapters of The Scout Plein Air Box Video Walkthrough

0:00 Features of the Box
5:02 Setting Up the Box for Painting
11:12 Mounting on a Tripod (Walter uses one by Peak Design)
11:46 Filling the Paint Tubes
13:53 The Scout for Everyday Use

I surveyed the hills and valleys in front of me. The land was covered in organized rows of 100 year old grape vines and olive trees, interrupted only by winding dirt roads connecting farms to the outside world. Terra Cotta-roofed houses speckled the landscape, and in the distance the hills transformed into mountains. The sun felt warm on my skin and the smell of fresh soil filled the air. As I looked up from my paint palette and over my canvas, I wondered at how this place must have looked when Leonardo was born. I had come here to Vinci, Italy to paint and to remember the importance of being an artist.

Art has always been a thread woven into the fabric of Peg and Awl, but on a personal level through the past ten years it had become a thing that Margaux and I would fit into the cracks of responsibility. Then in 2016 Margaux attended an illustration workshop in Spain and she was awakened. Art transformed into a necessity, and every day she devoted several hours to drawing, painting and writing. As I watched it feed her soul, I began to feel the pull myself. I decided to apply for a juried workshop taught by Jeremy Mann and Nadezda, and hosted by Art Escape Italy. I applied and waited, doubting I would be one of the 17 chosen. When I got the acceptance email I was ecstatic and nervous, with a underlying feeling of “what did I get my self into?” After months of struggling through the required homework of copying every page of Bridgman’s Complete Guide to Drawing From Life (which I did not complete before the trip), I hopped on a plane with my paints, brushes and canvases and headed to Tuscany, Italy.

Along with 16 other aspiring artists, I stayed at a secluded retreat situated atop a hill surrounded by vineyards and orchards. For 6 days we were immersed in instruction, reading, discussion and painting with Jeremy and Nadezda as they shared their passion for what it means to be an artist. One night we all set up along the edge of the hill and painted the landscape before us. I had never plein air painted before and had no idea what a plein air kit was. But as I taped a gessoed and toned canvas to my palette, threw a few paints and brushes in my pockets and sat down in the grass, I was enthralled.

The way that Jeremy explained the process was delightful. He had built a small plein air set up out of an old cigar box. His canvases were 4″ × 5″, and the box was small enough to fit in his hand while he painted. Inside was everything he needed: a glass palette, reused film canisters for liquin and turpentine, small whittled-down brushes and miniature paint tubes. This portable pochade box was so manageable that he always had it with him, and the scenes that he painted were amazing color studies and sketches that captured the aura of the moment. That night I decided to design a box that I could take on my own adventures.



On the flight home, I sketched out a rough plan and within a few days of my return I had made the first prototype. Made of walnut with a vegetable tanned leather cover and shoulder strap, it housed all my painting supplies and four canvases that could be stored safely when wet. I took it with me everywhere and stopped to paint whenever I saw a moment that I wanted to capture. For the next 8 months I made modifications, perfecting the design and usability of the Scout Plein Air Box in preparation to finally share it with the world.

I look back to one year ago when I was preparing to leave for Italy and I see how I have grown as an artist. Plein air painting has changed my life. The excitement of slinging my pochade box over my shoulder and setting out on a painting adventure is intoxicating. Being able to set up anywhere within a few minutes has encouraged me to paint often, to more closely observe the things around me, to hone my memory as I strive to capture a fleeting moment, and to constantly learn how to mix colors. It has taught me the importance of being in the moment, and of considering the physical world around me and my relationship with it. Plein air painting has helped me to live more like an artist.

Watch the Walkthrough of my Scout Plein Air Box.

We've been so psyched to be welcoming guests to the Peg and Awl House in our beloved city of Philadelphia since The House’s launch in July. In addition to receiving travelers, we’ve also been hosting small businesses that have used the space for photographing and filming their stories. It is so lovely to see new visions in our old home!

We were thrilled when Rikumo reached out to us to shoot their Holiday Gift Guide in our home – we LOVE their shop! 

Have a look at their beautiful photographs and the shop here!

In the wise words of Annie Dillard, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” At Peg and Awl, we are working to facilitate the making of art everyday and anywhere with objects that make packing and transport easy, whilst looking quite handsome. Meet Iris and Orra!

The Iris Painter’s Palette

The Iris Painter’s Palette is inspired by the wooden palettes used by the ancient Egyptians. Constructed from sustainable maple and vegetable-tanned leather, the palette is a simple way to transport your favourite paints, whether you mix your own pigments or squeeze them from a tube.

The Orra Sketchbook

Life’s astonishments and the impressions they conjure leave me awash in scribbles and sketches. Our Orra Sketchbooks are thin handbound books that are ideal companions for small projects and daily excursions. They are named for Orra White Hitchcock, a 19th century botanical, geologic, and zoological artist, an illustrator to whom no detail was too small to be recorded in her art. Made from high quality Strathmore drawing paper, Legion cover stock, and handstitched with linen, these versatile sketchbooks can take on a variety of media including pen and ink, watercolour, and graphite. Available in three sizes.

Landscape	Portrait	Large Portrait

Both the Iris Painter’s Palette and the Orra Sketchbook (Landscape and Portrait sizes) are designed to fit into our Classic and Mini Sendak Artist Rolls!

With roots as a cabinet maker, apprenticed to my father at a young age, I set to work in the early days of Peg and Awl making work benches and tables for Margaux in her book binding and jewelry studio. At that time my woodshop was in the basement of our city row home. The six foot tall ceilings and the narrow steps leading up to the kitchen made it quite difficult to build anything of size. It was within these constraints that the first Peg and Awl puzzle table and the seeds of the full Peg and Awl furniture line were sewn.

Through the past ten years we have made a variety of objects, and the lessons learned from cabinetry and joinery informed many of our designs. We have built products out of wood, canvas, metal, leather and paper, but making furniture was never far from my mind; it was as if I was waiting for the right time. I would see a table here and a chair there in our travels to historic homesteads, and I would always jot down details. Slowly the collection took on shape and when it came time to bring the ideas and concepts to life, the stacks of memories and cataloged jottings flowed out like a story I’ve always known. The Steinbeck Furniture Collection was born.

With simple lines and balanced proportions, each piece allows the locally and sustainably harvested American hardwood to shine. Form and function do not compete, yet through the minimalist design and time-tested craftsmanship that harkens back to the furniture makers of the Arts and Crafts Movement, each piece speaks with one tongue to the honesty and harmony of the sourcing of materials, the makers making, and the settling in to their new homes.

The Hawley Table

The Steinbeck Desk

The Kino Coffee Table

The Joad Chair

The Eden Bed Frame

The Travelers Bench

The Cannery Side Table

The Peg and Awl House: A Living Showroom

With the launch of the Steinbeck Furniture Collection, we also have turned the house where Peg and Awl started into a living showroom. Available to rent through Airbnb, the house is open for guests to stay and experience the furniture and the Peg and Awl lifestyle, to eat at the tables and sit in the chairs and sleep in the beds that were first conjured in that very same house with the low basement ceiling and the narrow staircase.