A graphic designer by trade originally, Rob "The Hun" Morton uses modern software to re-create patterns and artwork from the various time periods and cultures and translates them into leather.
The Flying Hun Archery & Leather
The small leather shop in Houston, TX is primarily focused on the eastern-style of archery. Rob “The Hun” Morton has been creating custom leather gear for nearly
10 years, and specifically equipment related to mounted
archery for the past 5 years. Having spent a great deal of
time in Europe when he was younger, he has been collecting
books, images and resource material from the time periods
he focuses on. A lifelong dream came true this past summer
in Vienna – an invitation by the museum's arms and armor
curator, to view and handle a few original Ottoman Turkish
pieces. After extensive note taking and sketch making, he
returned and reworked his entire line of leather quivers and
accessories.
Recently, his focus has been Turkish archery and accessories
– the originals were typically covered with velvet or hand
embroidered fabrics. He uses nearly any hide, fabric or
decorative leather imaginable to create totally functional,
unique pieces of art. The Hun also utilizes a number of
construction techniques not seen outside Europe.
In the sport of mounted archery there are dozens of quiver
and accessory makers, but outside of Turkey or Hungary
there are very few making traditional equipment. “Quiver
Theory” is a fairly complex set of ideas on quiver building;
understanding the needs of a ground quiver or a dedicated
mounted archery setup. He focuses on rebuilding the
quivers, bowcases and accessories from a number of
historic sources – and ultimately, building prototypes,
testing out ideas, and reworking old patterns. He personally
tests every design he builds, refines them and creates a
version to sell.
His two latest versions are based off of examples in
the Kunsthistorich Museum in Vienna.
A smaller, more compact quiver and a longer, pocket-style
Ottoman example – both with matching bowcases. He
recently wrote an article about the history and proper
wearing of the Ottoman Bowcase, an accessory not often
seen here in the states.
Traditional Eastern Archery primarily exists overseas
(Turkey, Mongolia, Hungary, etc) and has competitions for
mounted archery and ground archery akin to the Olympics
(The World Nomad Games). The following for eastern
archery in the USA is fairly small, but growing thanks to
number of groups like MA3 (The Mounted Archery
Association of the Americas) and USA Trad (a division of USA
Archery) they host multiple yearly events for mounted and
ground archery respectively. The culmination
is the “The Texas International Archery
Festival” - a celebration of all things archery,
hosted by his chapter The Eastern Contingent.