The origins of Bud and Do it for Daddy

Hi - my name is Lee - or Homme de Cuir as I go by for the artwork and sculpture I create. I'll explain the French name a little later on. But first I'd like to welcome you to the website for Do it for Daddy! Hello there! Here's a few words on the origins and philosophy of what Difdaddy is all about.....

A Philosophy of sorts...

When you buy Bud gear from Do it for Daddy, I like to think you’re buying more than just another fetish t-shirt. The leather community is enjoying a resurgence - maybe that could be down to how social media because has given so many of us the opportunity to share and explore that hidden side of ourself and connect to a safe and like-minded audience. With that new found visibilty and confidence, it’s inevitable that such strong online relationships will progress to the physical - I don’t mean exclusively sexually. We are human and are social creatures. We spark off each other, learn from each other. We instinctively seek community and human contact.

Regardless of where you are along your leather journey - an experienced dom with a string of fulfilled subs or that terrified guy walking into a leather bar for the first time - wearing Bud’s gear shows you are part of that beautiful leather brotherhood that has endured for decades. A brotherhood that supports and teaches each other, that looks out for each other and when the chemistry is right, has an amazingly hot sexual connection with each other without any shame, guilt or fear involved.

With such a huge range of gear and looks available and so many protocols, there’s a lot to learn. I personally found it incredibly daunting and still do occasionally. So if you see another guy a wearing Bud - go say hi. If he looks lost and terrified, go put a stop to that inner-turmoil he’s trying so hard to cover up by saying “Bud sent me to check on you”. You could change the direction that person’s leather journey in an instant, and there’s something really beautiful about that. We are human beings first and foremost - any sexual identity we take on is secondary, and we understand exactly why that should be : )

How did it all start?

The little minimal fellow below is Pierre. 

He was one of a series of six steel portraits I designed in early 2021 whilst stuck in Gran Canaria for seven weeks during lockdown. He was one of a number of random characters that had been buzzing around in my head for a while...inspired by people in books, childhood memories, folks I knew.

I’d been making and selling small modernist sculptures like Pierre for a few years, quite succesfully in fact. There are now over 300 pieces of my catalogued work dotted all over the globe, which I’m quite proud of. During this forced break from work, I had plenty of time on my hands and my mind wandered off, as it very often does.

Pierre was an incarnation of everything I used to understand to be french. I have long held a fascination and affinity with this beautiful country. I actually believe that I was french in a previous life. Might sound crazy but it’s the only way I can explain my ability to be able to speak the language unusually well from age 9 with no previous exposure to it. I am an unapologetic francophile! In Primary School french lessons, my french name actually was Pierre. I remember I sat next to ‘Monique’ for french who, for all her other lessons was actually called Tracy. Her french accent was as flat as a witches tit compared to mine, I thought. She made me look good! I wasn’t particulary good at anything else at school so to be top of the class for something was a new experience for me and I liked it!

The study books and learning aids at the time had no concept of cultural appropriation and loved a stereotype. This was late seventies Britain afterall. That little illustration of the french artist in my text book along with the fisherman, the policeman and the farmer were so simple and beautiful to me. I would imagine living in their cartoon world, walking down cartoon streets, working in a cartoon studio. I could lose myself for hours in these two-dimensional worlds and be happy as a pig in shit. Move on 35 years to when I set up my instagram account. What username should I use? Well I knew its creation was to indulge my leather side so instantly the French translation of Leather Man sprang to mind after a few scrambled thoughts, and I have been known as that ever since. No pretentiousness intended - it was just practical at the time.

Back to the present. Once I’d finished this particular design for Pierre, I wondered if I could create a leatherman design along the same lines in my usual style...minimal and quirky. The sketch started in a cafe near the Meloneras lighthouse and I remember the previous night had been one of leather indulgence and filth at Noxon and Toms Bar in the Yumbo centre. Bud was a result of that hungover, horny, post-whorish night mindset. By the time I’d finished my coffee and a few more cigarettes, Bud was manifested and this journey began.