About

Gruntled (Adj. Inf.)
-pleased, satisfied and contented.

Gruntled bags are proudly designed and made in the Hutt Valley, Wellington, New Zealand, using high quality top grain New Zealand leather and durable linings and hardware.
There are various styles, all designed with purpose and ease of use in mind, with more styles in development all the time, keep an eye out!
The leather used is from ‘kiwi’ cows, and processed in NZ, a by-product of our beef industry. Did you know NZ produces some of the highest quality leather in the world? Gruntled celebrates the quality and beauty of NZ leather.
Lining fabrics are synthetic, chosen for their rip-resistant, rot-resistant qualities; because what's the point of long lasting leather if the lining falls apart?

Hi, I’m Jodi Hartley….
With a passion for quality, function and beauty, and a solid background working in the NZ leathergoods industry, I founded Gruntled in 2018.
I love creating top end products that are going to last for years, perhaps even generations.
My first bags were designed with fabric and sewn up in my school years, so thinking back this has been going on a while! After high school I went on to Massey’s College of Creative Arts in Wellington, completing an Honours Degree in Textile Design. Within a year of graduating I was working for an established leather bag manufacturer, where I spent 6+ years of valuable learning on the job. (Sadly they have since closed).
After stepping away from the industry to raise our young boys, the burning desire to create with leather has never left me. I had to do something about it…. And Gruntled was born.

The Inspiration
In this face-paced world, I look for the beauty that lies in the subtleties… in the things that make us take pause and smile a little – The luminescent reflection of sunlight from a brightly hued flower petal –The rhythm and pattern of texture and colour on a seashell, echoing the waves beyond – The pondering of a thoughtful word, it’s origin, it’s meaning today.
Gruntled embodies these feelings, the state of mind in which inspiration and creation are free to flow, where we can appreciate beauty and quality and the little things…. And smile.