A SALISBURY businessman made a dramatic career change in 2010 when he sold his law firm and started up an exotic leather company.

Jonathan Gurney established CREEL Leather, which sells exotic leather.

The business has gone from strength to strength since opening.

The products sold include wallets, cardholders and mobile phone cases with a sustainable ethos.

Among the materials the company uses is exotic salmon leather and other fish leathers in combination with full-grain calf leather and shot silk.

Jonathan said: “Lots of people haven't heard of fish leather but it goes way back to the Mayans, Native Americans and Nanai tribes of Siberia. Fish leather is often mistaken for lizard or snake skin.

“It has a similar look and texture but with more pattern variety.

“We design and sample all of our products in our Salisbury and Oxford studio-workshops.

“Once perfected we make the first five to ten products and send a sample with pattern and full manufacture specification to long established family run leather workshops in either Cadiz, Spain, or Perugia, Italy, for counter-sampling and larger volume production – once they’ve got it exactly right.”

CREEL Leather products are sold online and through a limited number of market stalls, including Salisbury.

The plan is to sell through retail stores towards the end of next year.

“We want to build up volume gradually.

“Expansion has been deliberately slow so that we don’t compromise quality. It’s a step by step process,” he added.

Jonathan also pointed out that CREEL uses the skins from animals such as calf, but not endangered species or animals reared or caught solely for their skins.

He said: “None of the species we use are on any Commission for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list and the meat/food value of an animal must exceed the value of its raw hide or skin.”

More information on CREEL can be found on their website at creel-leather.com.