A year or two back I was spending another tough day at the office exploring the Design Indaba when I stumbled upon what was to become one of my favourite designers.

The Matblac collection is the brainchild of Mat Neilsen another spawn of the mother city who is fast setting the pace in the design scene.

I have been meaning to catch up with the Mat for a while now and finally had the chance to pick Mat's brain just last week...

As is tradition, we start you off with a tough question. Would you, Mat, rather be a pirate or an outlaw? 

- I'm a rum whore, salty seadog it is!

Ok now that that is out the way lets give the classic elevator pitch a go (with a digital twist), in 140 characters, describe what matblac is?

-Its a one man brand that crafts cool stuff from cows and fine things from felt. Its trend-free, built with hard work and passion and just for guys.

The ‘aha’ moment is a process that creative folk hold dear, when did you see the light and decide this was what you wanted to do? 

-When I made the first wallet it was just a hobby, when I realized people would pay good money for the product of my hobby it was pretty much  'Aha! Screw this Bcom!'

Now lets talk creativity, where do you draw your inspiration from? And don’t you dare start with ‘the mountain’.

This is my worst.....I has the kid in art class that wrote my rationale after I had finished the painting! There's nothing new under the sun, any new design is a rework of one or more designs that have existed before. I make things that please  my eye, I reckon my subconscious is just feeding me 'inspiration' from a scrapbook of everything I've ever seen.

Leather is a key element or dare I say the muse of your work. What is it about dried dead animal skin that get your creative juices flowing?

- Bovine dermis rocks my world. It's one of the few materials that builds character as it ages. It's like Ron Burgundy, whiskey and a smoking jacket rolled into one flat sheet.

You get your materials from all over the world, does that mean you have one of those terrible jobs that requires traveling to source goods in majestic lands?

-Its more like expensive phone calls all around the world for now! Soon I hope to join the ranks of the 'Oh I just wrote it off as a business expense' elite while eating quarter ton steaks in Argentina. 

I have always been a massive fan of your wallets and your belts have been on my wishlist for a while but Ive seen on www.matblac.com that you have a couple of new additions to the range. Tell us more?

-The wallets are a fraction of what I hope to get stuck into, right now it's all about giving Apple users slick storage solutions, next year I'll throw some felt lighting into the mix and eventually furniture. Shit I love leather and wood furniture.

Asking you which is your favorite product is like asking a mother to choose her favorite child I’m sure, but I’m going to do anyway… If you could only keep one of your products, which would it be?

-The wallet for sure, its functional art so you can interact with it every day, and fiddling with the magnetic closure while waiting to pay is now a chronic habit! 

Matt thanks so much for your time, its great to finally have a chat with you!  For all the readers out there, dont delay with Christmas just a week away you still have time to get your hands on some of these amazing products... The perfect Christmas present if you ask me :)

For more details you can head over to the Matblac website or give Matt a call on 083 5166232 or follow @Matblacstudio on twitter.

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