{"id":24811,"date":"2021-05-27T17:29:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T00:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000020458"},"modified":"2023-03-19T22:53:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T05:53:18","slug":"long-beach-leather-maker-gunther-estrada-grbg-made-creates-goods-made-to-last-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/in-the-studio\/long-beach-leather-maker-gunther-estrada-grbg-made-creates-goods-made-to-last-forever","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Hasta la Muerte:&#8217; Long Beach leather maker creates goods made to last forever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In the Studio is a monthly multimedia series that highlights local artists and makers, in their element, doing what they do best. To contact us, email Visuals Editor Thomas R. Cordova at <a href=\"mailto:thomas@lbpost.com\">thomas@lbpost.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"In the studio with leather maker Gunther Estrada\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EolT9OmmCWw?start=183&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Gunther Estrada is a Long Beach-based artist and owner of GRBG Made, a handmade leather goods company.<\/p>\n<p>From a second-floor studio in Zaferia District, Estrada will stay holed up inside his 150 square-foot studio from morning until dusk cutting, gluing, sewing and designing his leather-made wares\u2014a variety of wallets, credit cardholders, lighter sleeves, toiletries bags and keychains.<\/p>\n<p>Using materials he sourced from Los Angeles, or donations he received from friends, Estrada works meticulously.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a perfectionist about the stitching,&#8221; the 46-year-old said. &#8220;If it&#8217;s perfect, it gives me this great gratification, the sense of accomplishment I used to get when I used to skate when I was young.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Estrada grew up in Lima, Peru before coming to the U.S. in 1997 as an exchange student with the hopes of becoming a professional skateboarder, a dream Estrada said he and his brother idolized when they were 14.<\/p>\n<p>Though his dream didn&#8217;t pan out, Estrada wanted to stay close to the industry in any way he could. He worked odd jobs in Idaho and California until he landed a job with skateboarding brand DC Shoes and worked his way up from sales, to production, then to marketing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I started traveling with professional skaters, so it was like, kind of the dream came through in a different way,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10000044959\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10000044959\" style=\"width: 1110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10000044959\" src=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/27111622\/0511-Leather-4-1110x614.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1110\" height=\"614\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10000044959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gunther Estrada at his shop GRBG Made in Long Beach Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Over time he developed a tight-knit group of friends at the company. When he moved to Long Beach in 2011, he and seven others from DC Shoes started an art collective they named &#8220;Los Garbage&#8221; and did various art shows in and around the city. At the time, Estrada was making knife and machete handles and other wood wares from recycled skateboard decks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In Peru, when you see your best friend across the street, you call out &#8216;basura,&#8217; which means garbage,&#8221; Estrada. &#8220;We were best friends.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The first leather product Estrada made was a cardholder from material he was originally going to use for a knife sheath. After sharing his new creation online, his friends wanted to buy, which eventually led to a full-time career for his now 8-year-old company, GRBG Made, named in honor of the former art collective.<\/p>\n<p>It was mostly for fun, at first, Estrada said. But after a trip to Prague, Estrada was inspired by the architecture and craftsmanship he saw around the city.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything is made to perfection. Everything is just made with that same purpose I was thinking to build my company, or my product, under which is functionality, beauty and durability,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>From that idea, he created his company slogan, &#8220;Hasta la Muerte,&#8221; which means until death. He later added the phrase &#8220;and beyond&#8221; in English. Together, the phrase is a nod to both his Peruvian and American identity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;None of it was made out of plastic. I thought, maybe there&#8217;s a way that I can make something that could last forever, that could last generations,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10000044962\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10000044962\" style=\"width: 1110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10000044962\" src=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/27111633\/0511-Leather-5-1110x730.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1110\" height=\"730\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10000044962\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gunther Estrada shows a Party Wallet that he completed at his shop GRBG Made in Long Beach Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Follow Gunther Estrada and his company GRBG Made on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/grbgmade\/?hl=en\">Instagram<\/a> or visit their website <a href=\"https:\/\/grbgmade.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Holed up inside his 150 square-foot studio Estrada will work from morning until dusk cutting, gluing, sewing and designing his leather-made wares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":71587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32100],"tags":[175],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[8767],"class_list":["post-24811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-studio","tag-in-the-studio","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72571,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24811\/revisions\/72571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24811"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=24811"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}