ABOUT LEOK
LEOK was born from a life that changed overnight.
In 2022, I was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. By 2023, dialysis became a full-time companion—nine hours a day, seven days a week. The treatment, the medication, the exhaustion… it made my days unpredictable, and I had no choice but to step back from the career I’d spent over fifteen years building in the creative industry.
But creativity has always been the pulse beneath everything I do. I’ve worked across continents, won awards in multiple markets, lived and travelled through Asia for a year, and built a life around ideas, craft, and storytelling. When my health forced me to stop, I needed something to keep my hands—and my mind—busy.
So I returned to the things that had always grounded me:
books, drawing, and the joy of making.
What began as a hobby—binding rescued books in the quiet hours of the night—became the seed of LEOK. With no predictable routine, my working process followed its own rhythm. On the nights I couldn’t sleep, my partner would find me in the workshop at 3am, covered in glue, scraps of leather everywhere, halfway through another experiment. And somewhere in those late-night moments, something beautiful and unexpected emerged:
a business built on passion, resilience, and reinvention.
Today, LEOK is a small design house dedicated to creating handbound, one-of-a-kind pieces, each made with intention, imagination, and a deep respect for craft. Every book is rescued—second-hand novels, discarded hardbacks, leathers saved from landfill—given a new life as a collectible object. All bioplastics used in tools and packaging come from renewable materials. Sustainability isn’t an afterthought; it’s the foundation.
My process begins with research. I believe you should judge these books by the cover—because each one is designed to echo the world inside it. Sometimes it reflects the story itself; sometimes the feeling that lingers after the final line. Every material, motif, ribbon, and illustration is chosen thoughtfully to honour the narrative.
LEOK is, in many ways, a mirror of my own story:
taking what life has worn down, reshaping it, and turning it into something deeply cherished.
Hobby became therapy.
Therapy became craft.
Craft became a business I’m incredibly proud to share with you.
Thank you for supporting not just a small business,
but the person—and the journey—behind it.