A craft that crossed an ocean
Every house has an origin. Ours is one grandfather, one bench, and a journey to Canada.
Handmade in Canada
Take a piece of history with you.
Hand-carved leather, by one pair of hands, in Vancouver.
Discover the collection The artworkEvery piece is cut, carved and stitched by one pair of hands — Saeed Mohseninia's — in Vancouver, Canada.
Each piece is cut, carved, stitched and finished by hand to order at our Vancouver atelier, then marked with the Charmeh stamp.
The Persian Queen
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The Persian Queen Tote
Farah, the last Shahbanu
A portrait of Farah Pahlavi — Shahbanu, the last Empress of Persia — in profile, wearing the crown made for her 1967 coronation. Tooled by hand into the hide, the crown set stone by stone with turquoise and coloured inlay.
The drop at her ear is a single cut of turquoise. No two crowns are set exactly the same, so no two of these bags are identical.
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The Persepolis Bag
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The Persepolis Bag
A relief that is 2,500 years old
The lion seizing the bull is carved into the stairways of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, built under Darius I around 515 BCE. Scholars read it as the turning of the year — the lion of summer overtaking the bull of winter — a symbol tied to Nowruz, the Persian new year.
Here it is tooled by hand into full-grain hide, set beneath a bronze turn-lock flap on a structured top-handle frame. Each relief takes days to work; no two carry the lion exactly the same way.
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Artwork
The War Chariot
Discover the artwork
Artwork — relief panels in tooled leather
Carved for the wall
The same hand that carves the bags carves wall panels in full relief — a single hide worked for weeks into a chariot at full gallop, a Lamassu, the Immortals, the Faravahar. Each is one of a kind, framed, and signed.
The War Chariot: a warrior and two horses in deep relief, with real leather harness and reins. Approx. 53 × 36 in.
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Collection
Made to order, in small numbers
Hand-carved pieces and plain leather, side by side. Each is cut and stitched only once ordered, by hand, in Vancouver — nothing here is mass-produced or held in bulk stock.
The Cylinder Collection
The Cyrus Cylinder Bag — Tan
$520 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Cyrus Cylinder Bag — Black
$520 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Cyrus Cylinder Bag — Silver
$540 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Cyrus Cylinder Bag — Slate
$520 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Cyrus Cylinder Bag — Sand
$540 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Isfahan Barrel — Black
$480 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Oxblood Barrel
$440 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Statement Pieces
The Harlequin Trunk
$690 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Ribbon Barrel
$460 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Basket Barrel
$430 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Trapeze — Lime
$390 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Box — Sage
$350 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Mosaic Box
$410 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Box — Croc — Cobalt
$330 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Box — Croc — Fuchsia
$330 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Box — Croc — Violet
$330 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Lattice Box — Cognac
$420 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Harlequin Box
$460 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Quilted Bag — Sky
$330 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Signature Line
Signature Tote — Black
$285 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Signature Tote — Ivory
$285 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Signature Tote — Taupe
$285 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Signature Tote — Navy
$285 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Signature Tote — White & Orchid
$295 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Artwork
Relief panels, carved into a single hide
The same hands that carve the bags also carve wall pieces — Cyrus the Great, the War Chariot, the Lamassu, the Peacock — each one of a kind, each with its dimensions listed, each available by enquiry.
View the artworkHeritage Collection
The Faravahar Tote — Heritage
$680 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Faravahar Tote — Classic
$420 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Faravahar Tote — Oxblood
$460 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Persian Queen Tote
$590 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Persepolis Bag
$540 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Immortal Clutch
$310 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Colosseum Tote
$460 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Butterfly Mini
$290 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Persepolis Capital Clutch
$390 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Audience Clutch
$360 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Cuneiform Clutch — Teal
$320 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Queen of Hearts
$340 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Four Aces Clutch
$340 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Faravahar Clutch
$360 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Faravahar Clutch — Chestnut
$360 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Clutches & Small Pieces
The Kite Pouch — Teal
$260 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Ostrich Clutch — Tan & Teal
$360 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Ostrich Clutch — Mustard & Black
$360 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Patchwork Clutch — Cognac
$300 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Croc Clutch — Sand
$310 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Croc Clutch — Cobalt & White
$310 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Croc Clutch — Teal
$310 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
The Clutch — Fuchsia
$290 CAD
Handmade in Vancouver, Canada
Everyday
The Bench
Saeed's bench
The craft begins with Saeed Mohseninia — the grandfather of the family. He learned to cut, tool and stitch hide long before he came to Canada, at a bench where the motifs on these bags were not decoration but living history: the Faravahar, the lion and bull of Persepolis, the script of the Cyrus Cylinder.
The Move
To Canada, in two journeys
The family came to Canada first and made Vancouver home. Then they brought Saeed over to join them — and with him, the hands, the tools and the technique that had been left behind.
Vancouver
One bench, one pair of hands
For the past three years, Saeed has been making bags in Vancouver — every piece, start to finish, himself. No one else in the family carves; the rest of us look after everything around him. The work began under another name; it became Charmeh, from charm, the Persian word for leather.
Today
Made to order, one piece at a time
Every piece on this site was cut, carved and stitched by Saeed Mohseninia, by hand, in Vancouver. There is no workshop team and no second maker — which is why each piece is made to order, and why there are never many.
I.
Full-grain hide, hand-selected
Every hide is inspected by hand before it's cut — only leather that will soften and deepen in colour with age is used.
II.
Tooled and stitched by hand
Each relief is worked into the hide by hand, then saddle-stitched — slower than a machine, and the reason the stitching is warrantied.
III.
Finished with your mark
An initial, a date, or a personal mark — stamped by hand before a piece ever leaves the bench.
IV.
Made in Canada, by one maker
Every stage of the leatherwork happens at Saeed's bench in Vancouver — cutting, carving, stitching, setting and stamping. One maker, one bench.
"Every piece is backed by a five-year warranty on stitching and hardware — because it's built to be repaired, not replaced."
The Mohseninia family — Charmeh
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Appointments
Visit the atelier
Custom orders, repairs under warranty, or a question about a piece — write in and we'll reply within two business days.
Book an Appointment- Telephone
- +1 (604) 765-9746
- hello@charmeh.ca
- Studio
- Vancouver, BC — by private appointment
- @charmeh.ca
