Hi, I’m Milly. Rae & Rue is where my love of leather and my need to create come together.

It starts with a sketch. It almost always does. An idea on paper that slowly becomes something I can hold. From there, I choose the leather, play with colour and texture, cut each component, tool the finer details, and bring everything together by hand with rivets and hardware.

For me, that process is just as important as the finished piece. I love watching something that began as a few pencil lines slowly take shape on my workbench — and because leather has its own markings, texture and character, no two pieces ever feel quite the same.

Rae & Rue is created from my home in regional New South Wales, Australia, where I live with my husband and our three kids. Life here is busy, a little messy and full — and somewhere amongst it all, you’ll usually find me sketching an idea or disappearing to the workbench to bring one to life.

I don’t make things quickly or in huge quantities. I make pieces I’m excited about, one at a time, with the hope that they’ll be carried, worn in and loved for years to come.

Part leatherwork. Part art. Entirely made by hand.

Rae & Rue began around the time my eldest was born, as a creative outlet that was just for me. Over the years it’s grown alongside my family, but it’s still my space to create, experiment and turn ideas into something real