JUST GETTING STARTED

“THERES NO PEOPLE LIKE HORSE SHOW PEOPLE! The beauty and strength of horses bond us together – not only with our horses – we are bonded with horsemen and horsewomen alike”.

 Creator Joel Chauran began his affair with leather goods starting at an early age in the stable. Growing up as a “Barn Kid” spending hours grooming and riding horses, he loved putting together pieces of broken leather creating bridles so he and his friends could go riding.

 Horse pleasure quickly turned into the intention of becoming a professional horse trainer. Still in high school he started an apprenticeship with Jerry Sindt one of the Arabian horse worlds most notable trainers. That led Joel to Sheila Varian for mentorship and on to Bob Battaglia where he refined his riding skills working as assistant trainer for the nations foremost English trainer and competitor.

 For several years Joel operated his own training stable and then “kicked himself out of the barn” and back into school. This required relocating to San Francisco where he was accepted into California College of the Arts based on his portfolio of personal work. Joel describes this as “the hardest and best thing I have ever done – it changed my life”. Joel graduated with honors and a BFA in Industrial Design.

 During college Joel was accepted to be the first intern in a new program Pottery Barn had initiated to discover new talent. After several promotions that internship turned into a position as Head Designer taking Joel across the globe designing and developing product for the brand. Joel is quick to acknowledge Pottery Barn head of design Celia Tejada as a driving force of inspiration and courage – “Celia was always supportive and always asking - what’s next”.

 Joel then started a small design consultancy where he represented foreign factory’s developing goods for US retailers. With his overseas factory connections and long time relationship with Nitin and Ritika Jain, Joel created his own brand of textiles that can be found on CHAURAN.com

 URBAN-EQUESTRIAN was born when designing the CHAURAN icon. The “C” was fashioned after a horseshoe - arraying that “C” turned into the “Horseshoe Medallion”. The medallion has become the signature icon for the brand and muse for many of the leather goods and jewelry creations. We like to say “the horseshoes are casting good vibes in every direction”.

 "We strive to create singular, stylish, and functional design as a celebration of these bonds and reflection of equestrian heritage". We hope you enjoy! Joel