Sew far, sew good: Meet Coruscate Leather & Co. founder Carmen Bishop

Addiction is a battle. 

As a teenager, Ocoee resident Carmen Bishop fought that battle for years. It continued with multiple stints in rehab after age 21. 

But that’s also precisely when she found her why.

Nine years ago, while in an all-women’s rehabilitation program, women from a local church brought in their sewing machines for the patients. Bishop made a bag — a project that ultimately changed her life.

That bag hangs over her bed as a reminder of the women she made it with and her sobriety of nine years. 

“In that rehab is really where my passion woke back up again,” Bishop said. 

She had been sewing since she was a little girl, learning the talent from her great-grandmother, a seamstress. 

And today, Bishop, now a leathersmith, shares that talent as “wearable art” through her business, Coruscate Leather & Co. 

THE JOURNEY
Bishop’s love affair with leather began at a young age, captivated by her grandmother’s collection of leather bags.

“It’s one of the things that got me into it to begin with,” Bishop said of the collection. “She would buy these beautiful hand-tooled leather bags and I would just sit there and put my hands over all of the texture.”

She began to explore different materials and discovered a love for natural fibers such as hemps, woven textiles and rich cottons. The journey led her to finding leather. With it, she sewed her first leather hacky sack in 1997. 

After rehab, Bishop started working as an art teacher at Michael’s, and a woman came in talking about industrial sewing. Bishop saved up to buy a machine. That purchase led her down the road of becoming an industrial seamstress, making huge awnings and cabana tops for Quality Awning. 

Then COVID-19 hit. 

Bishop worked as an essential worker for two months before she lost her job. At that time, her now-husband, Jason Bourdon, asked what she was going to do. 

“I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to learn how to sew leather bags since I was a little girl,’” Bishop said. “He’s (Bourdon) like, ‘So do that. Let’s do that. We have the time to do that. We already have the sewing machine.’”

Bourdon supported her dream. He transformed the cottage that Bishop came home to as a baby into a workshop space. They went out to Tandy, a leather shop, and bought the first hive of leather. 

It sat in the house while Bishop worked up the nerves to cut into the delicate and expensive piece of material. A half-hide of leather starts at about $150. 

After six months, she cut it. 

The Business Begins

The first bag that Bishop made sold on Etsy instantly. 

“We went out and had a big dinner to celebrate,” Bishop said. “That was in March or April of 2022. Then in November of 2022, we had our first vendor show at the Orlando Maker Faire, and that was our test run.”

At that point, she was only sewing the bags and had not begun to carve into them. Bishop didn’t feel like a leathersmith yet, more like someone that was just “playing with leather.” 

She started cranking out pieces to sell for months. They set a revenue goal before the Maker Faire and said if they met that, then they would continue to produce goods. 

“We blew that number out of the park,” Bishop said. 

In that moment, Coruscate Leather & Co. was born. 

“It’s (Coruscate) a verb,” Bourdon said. “It means to reflect or shine brilliantly.” 

Bishop found the word during rehab. When she stumbled upon it while reading, she remembered the feelings and wanted to feel that again. 

“This is Carmen and my efforts to cast our light up,” Bourdon said. “This (is) beautiful stuff that she can make so that others can (enjoy).”

Coruscate Leather & Co. is truly a team effort between the two. Bishop said she would be the creative director, while Bourdon acts as the operations director. 

Bourdon was a woodworker and a 3D printer. He started to play around with leather to help Bishop out and realized how fun it is to work with.

“Jason does a lot like cutting things out for me,” Bishop said. “Originally, I would carve it and then take a razor blade and cut around it, and it took forever. … Now, Jason can cut them out for me on the laser, and then I can tool them.” 

Eighteen months ago, they bought a laser cutter. It connects to a program called Light Burn and shoots a laser through three different mirrors down to the leather. Bourdon uses it to cut pieces of leather in the matter of minutes, allowing Bishop to focus on the artistry. 

“I will sit out here for six hours listening to Joe Rogan or some podcast and just literally lose the entire day out here carving,” Bishop said. “If I (weren’t) doing this for a living, I would be doing it for fun. I love it so much. It’s the best medium that I’ve ever worked in.”

It’s sped up the process in making their most popular product, butterfly hair barrettes. They’re carved and hand-painted leather butterflies that feature a locally sourced porcupine quill. 

“My favorite is to incorporate everything I’ve learned into one product,” Bishop said. 

She loves being able to craft custom orders for clients and challenge her skills by painting intricate designs onto totes and journal covers. Bishop learned how to use hand wax by mixing beeswax and paraffin then putting it on and hitting it with a heat gun to melt it into the fibre. 

As Bishop’s skills expand, so has Coruscate Leather & Co. since the Maker Faire in November 2022. Bourdon said sales have grown by 40% to 80% every year. 

They have begun to sell products in local stores and through a website that Bourdon developed, where customers can buy pre-made items or request a custom order. Most of the products are sold at the 25 to 30 fairs that they do each year. Half the fairs are through the partnership they have with the Orlando Science Center. 

But Bishop has a different dream for its future. 

FUTURE PLANS
Bishop’s grandfather used to own Davis Pharmacy in downtown Winter Garden, and she envisions having a space like that or even own her grandpa’s space. 

“I would absolutely love to have Coruscate, where you walk in and there’s a retail space where you can see all of our bags,” Bishop said. “We’re leather dealers as well. We have leather hides that we sell. So we’ll have leather hides there.”

She wants to create a space where customers can come in to purchase bags, and as they look over, they can see the artistic process of making them by watching the machines and people behind the creations. It would be a retail shop, as well as an educational space. 

Bishop loves to teach people about her skills, and she already has done a couple of leather classes in the current space. She intends to expand that if they ever open a full store. 

“Come here and make something leather, then take it with you,” Bourdon said. 

So far, all of the revenue has been pushed back into Coruscate to buy supplies, enhance the workshop area and purchase new tools. Now, as the business celebrates its fourth anniversary this November, Bishop and Bourdon are able to save some of the revenue to push it toward future endeavors and dreams.