Meet Your Makers
Our happy place: Red Rock Canyon, southern Nevada.
We are Laralyn Mowers and Xai Pei Miao Miao, the creative forces behind Cuero & Plume. Laralyn handles the design, material sourcing, and production. Xai Pei oversees the fit and quality of our feline harnesses, necklaces, and feather toys. A nomadic duo of climbers who spend winters in the desert -- a major source of creative inspiration. We spend summers exploring cooler latitudes and elevations.
Laralyn: As a neurodivergent creative, I'm always curious, always moving, and always exploring. I'm the most engaged when I'm working with my hands. I've explored various artistic mediums from woodworking, metalworking, leatherwork, feathercraft, and jewelry design. And yes, I did build our tiny workshop -- mostly from upcycled materials and found objects!
Xai Pei Miao Miao: As a Siamese cat, I'm clearly overqualified for this position. Nevertheless, I employ patience and try to provide constructive criticism and project management oversight to ensure our designs pass the quality requirements of discerning cats and humans alike.
While we love creating for creation's sake, there's nothing like crafting a special piece for a specific individual. Whether you have gemstone preferences or want to collaborate on an original design, we'd be stoked to make something that truly resonates with you.
Vision and Methodology
At Cuero & Plume, we value quality, embrace individuality, and aren't afraid to make bold statements. Our materials are locally sourced whenever possible, ethically sourced from global origins when necessary, and we incorporate unique components collected on our adventures whenever appropriate. Nomadic by nature, everything we create is crafted in our tiny mobile workshop—a Sprinter van we affectionately call The Monochromatic Panda—where we weave new chapters from the old and discarded, restoring them into something unexpectedly beautiful.
Inspired by the vibrant colors, striking contrasts, and rugged beauty of the desert, and the enigmatic corvids and raptors that roam the desert skies, our work celebrates the ephemeral nature of life. We aim for each piece to be a testament to the raw beauty of the natural world, an homage to unapologetic individuality, and a whisper of adventures ahead.
Inspired by the vibrant colors, striking contrasts, and rugged beauty of the desert, and the enigmatic corvids and raptors that roam the desert skies, our work celebrates the ephemeral nature of life. We aim for each piece to be a testament to the raw beauty of the natural world, an homage to unapologetic individuality, and a whisper of adventures ahead.