Laser engraving a logo on stainless steel and leather for a Kickstarter project

Introduction

Not every personalisation project is simply a matter of “adding a logo and that’s it”. In this case, a product in the testing phase for Kickstarter arrived at the workshop: a knife and scissor sharpener made of stainless steel, accompanied by a leather case. The objective was clear from the start: to test how the brand logo marking performed on two very different materials and validate whether the result was good enough for a product intended to be presented seriously.

This type of work is genuinely interesting because it requires technical decisions, not just aesthetic ones. The same design had to work well on metal and leather, but the behaviour of the material, the way it absorbs energy and the type of visible finish are completely different. That is where a well-planned test prevents mistakes before moving on to larger production.

At Vanco Studio, we handle this type of commission within our digital fabrication and personalisation service, combining process selection, file adjustment and technology choice according to the actual material of the piece.

What the customer needed to validate before launching the product

When a project is aimed at Kickstarter, one of the most delicate aspects is making sure the prototype feels coherent. It is not enough for the mechanism to work. It also needs to look like a considered, well-resolved product that presents well in photographs, video and physical samples. In this case, the customer needed to check three things: whether the logo remained clearly legible on stainless steel, whether the leather engraving was clean without damaging the case, and whether both finishes conveyed the same visual identity even though they were made on very different surfaces.

This is important because a brand can look correct on screen but lose impact when transferred to physical production. Very thin letters, areas that are too small or weak contrast often only become apparent at this stage. That is why, before manufacturing more units, the professional approach is to carry out real tests on the part itself or on equivalent material.

Why stainless steel and leather are not engraved in the same way

Although it may look like the same job from the outside, two different processes are actually involved here. For stainless steel, fibre laser engraving is the logical choice because it is the appropriate technology for precise, durable marking on metal. For leather, by contrast, a CO₂ laser is appropriate because it responds better on non-metallic materials and allows controlled marking without physical contact.

What we did in these engraving tests

On the stainless-steel sharpener, we prepared the logo and brand-text marking to achieve clear readability without overloading the surface. On a hand-held piece, the engraving should not only look good in a front-facing photograph: it also needs to remain legible when light reflects, when the surface curves or when the user handles it from different angles.

On the leather case, the approach was different. We were not looking for aggressive engraving or exaggerated depth, but for a clean, stable mark that was visually integrated with the material. Leather responds very well to laser engraving when the settings are right, but it also immediately reveals a poor approach or excessive energy. That is why, on jobs like this, a clean result depends much more on control than on “marking hard”.

In addition, because the same logo was being used on two materials, we reviewed the design adaptation so that the visual identity remained coherent. That too is part of real workshop work: it is not simply a matter of receiving a file and sending it to the machine, but of preparing it so that it works properly in production. This approach fits our graphic design for manufacturing in Girona service, where Vanco Studio prepares files optimised for laser, 3D printing, embroidery and sublimation.

What a prototype like this teaches you before producing more units

The most useful part of this case is not only the visual result, but what it allows you to decide before moving forward. A test like this helps confirm whether the logo size is correct, whether the contrast on stainless steel is sufficient, whether the leather provides the expected finish and whether the proposal feels like a real product rather than an improvised sample.

When it is worth testing before a launch

This type of validation is particularly worthwhile when the product combines several materials, when the logo has fine detail, when the piece will be shown in a campaign or when the final result directly affects the perception of quality. In other words: almost whenever the marking is part of the product rather than a secondary addition.

In addition, when a brand is building a new product, standardising the design and adapting it to the real process is usually smarter than insisting on keeping a version designed only for the screen. This is not “changing the brand”; it is preparing it to work in manufacturing, which is precisely what prevents finishing problems and costly decisions later on.

If your project combines metal, leather or other materials and you need to validate how the marking will look before production, you can review our fibre laser engraving service in Girona for metal parts, or see a related case involving laser engraving on leather, where we explain what determines a clean mark on this material.

A seemingly small job that is critical for a serious product

From the outside, this commission may seem simple: engrave a logo on a stainless-steel sharpener and its leather case. But this is exactly the type of work that separates quick personalisation from a well-resolved decision. When a product is going to be shown, sold or validated, each material has to respond properly and every mark needs to be clearly legible.

At Vanco Studio, we carry out this type of testing from our workshop in L’Estartit, Girona, for local customers, projects throughout Catalonia and commissions across Spain, with a technical approach and without improvising processes. If you are developing a product and need to check which technology best suits your materials, the best approach is to validate before production.

For technical enquiries or a quote, you can write to us through contact.