Nathan Gryszowka, who started his wallet line Maxx & Unicorn based on a vintage bi-fold he found, is someone who firmly believes the older, the better—well, at least when it comes to his collection of worldly accessories. From old-fashioned felt hats to jackknife key cases, the guy has sourced some real specialness. So you can imagine our excitement—nay, delirium—when he offered to give us a peek into his collection. —alisha prakash “I got this great felted wool cap on a trip to Italy with my wife at a vintage dealer. He gave this to me as a gift. I had one just like this in college and my wife used to love when I wore my hat.” “This is my absolute favorite bag in the world. I picked it up from a vintage dealer—Melet Mercantile—and I’m quite sure that the price tag on it was missing a digit. It’s probably circa the twenties or thirties. It’s got an elephant skin texture, a beautiful cognac color, and great hardware and patina. It straps comfortably around your shoulders, which is a rare find in a vintage bag. Usually vintage bags are uncomfortable and clunky—they just look good.”“I found this at the Brooklyn Flea last summer. I don’t think people think enough about every little thing like, ‘What do I carry my keys on?’ One of the most unattractive things you could probably pull out of your bag is your keychain.”“I’m a shoe guy. These John Lobb shoes were probably 10 to 15 years old when they were given to me by Mickey Drexler—the CEO of J. Crew. They’re handmade in Paris of spectacular leather.” “I picked up this transistor radio at an estate sale in Massachusetts just before I moved to New York. I thought it was really cool that it was a leather product and a radio at the same time. Every once in awhile, I bring it out to the yard on a really nice summer’s night—it reminds me of being a kid and rolling through the dial on the radio.” Tomorrow, score the awesome (leather) edition Nathan made just for us. For first dibs, enter your email here.

Nathan Gryszowka launched his line in a day. He uncovered a wallet from the forties at a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, antique shop, better known for Asian furniture than men’s accessories. He was so intrigued by the design of it —it was much more like origami than your standard, stitched-up bi-fold—that he decided to try to replicate it, imparting a little modern sleekness that the source material lacked and crafting his piece from a single piece of skin. “My original wallet happened overnight—it was kind of the product of insomnia,” Nathan recalls. “I showed it to Shana Tabor, the owner of In God We Trust, which is just around the corner from my apartment, and it was for sale in the store in like 48 hours.” Granted, the training that got Nathan to this place took a lot longer—he created his first prototype from leather leftover from his time at FIT. He is currently a senior designer for Ralph Lauren Black Label, and he has also worked on outerwear for RL (“That’s where I really learned how to work with leather and weather pieces.”) and has  also done time at J. Crew—career stops he shares with other guy-fashion aces Tim Hamilton and Todd Snyder. Lest you worry that the dude doesn’t sleep, he also works damn hard to not work too much. “My wife and I do a lot of traveling—we’re doing a tour of American cities,” he says. “We do our best to draw a line and enjoy it.” —erica Come back tomorrow to score Nathan’s follow-up to his first sell-out! And get on our email list for a reminder.

Nathan visiting one of his NYC suppliers, Libra Leathers.For Nathan Gryszowka, the creative whiz behind the refreshingly simple wallet line, Maxx & Unicorn, design is a constant: Each of his bi-folds is constructed the exact same way, using a single piece of leather and an impressive folding technique he developed. But this guy isn’t resting on his laurels. To make each design special, he pays a lot of attention to skins and their varying characteristics. Here, he lets us peek into his leather-sourcing process and talks through the stellar hide he chose for his Of a Kind edition. —alisha prakash Like what you see? Well, now’s your chance to score one for yourself—right here!—before they’re gone.“In general, horse, calf, and cow are mostly what I look for.”“Leather can be very hairy on the back side. I’m always looking for a very compact, flat skin, and it has to fall within a certain millimeter parameter in terms of thickness in order to construct the wallet.” “I get brightly colored kid skins from a vendor in Boston—it’s a very different type of tanning process. The leather I used for the Of a Kind wallet is a buff cowhide. It’s a deep, dark navy color, heavier than our standard leather cowhide, with a really soft and polished finish. I was thinking of denim and sliding wallets into the back pockets of my jeans. As you wear this wallet, it’s going to fade around the edges, like your jeans would.”“To start the aging process once the wallet is completed, we give it a dump in warm water, which makes the dyes a little erratic. Then, we give it a little squeeze, and that redistributes some of the dyes as well—so you’re going to see a little bit of rumple in the wallets. This is not meant to be pristine and sharp and clean. It’s supposed to take on character and grow with you.”