Objects and details: Dan Genten wallet

There are beautiful items and there are useful items. Some precious few are both.

I love this wallet. It’s super slimline. Over the years, it has prevented my carrying pocketfuls of cards, coins and the other detritus larger wallets accrete.

I bought it in 2007 in Japan, immediately struck by its simplicity. A single folded piece of leather holds notes, a second strip stitched on by hand forms a pocket for cards. The pocket has a cut out just the right size for a finger to push out the cards. A small metal ring embedded in the leather holds keys or a charm. Or nothing; I’ve always had the ring empty.

As leather often does, the wallet has only gained more beauty as it ages.

With the rise of Apple Pay, carrying a wallet has become less of an essential. But I still find myself adding it to a pocket or bag, just to have it.

It took fifty photos to gain just four that seemed to me to capture any of the real-life character of the wallet. I’ve gained a new appreciation for the time behind those effortless looking close ups of things we often see on the web.