DSB train seating, featuring wool and pigmented cowhide leather upholstery over moulded polyurethane resin (PUR) foam. The materials used in public transport must meet strict flame and emissions requirements. For example, the leather is treated during tanning to enhance flame retardancy. Flammable parts, such as wood, parts must be below a certain size and weight, so as not to contribute to a potential fire.
Bell & Ross BR 126 Heritage watch featuring a curved anti-reflective sapphire window, CNC machined steel body and calfskin leather strap. The steel is coated black by physical vapour deposition (PVD), to create a very durable colour finish. Image Bell & Ross.
Utrecht armchair, by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld for Cassina, 1935, consists of a steel frame, polyurethane padding and blanket stitched pigmented leather upholstery.
Addition Sofa, designed by Kaare Klint for Carl Hansen & Søn, 1933, features button tufted aniline leather upholstery and oak legs. Over time, the high quality aniline has developed a rich patina, becoming darker with age.
Louis Vuitton Keepall Bandoulière 50 in embossed leather, with cowhide trim. It is made with taurillon leather, a natural grain calfskin with semi-aniline finish - it has a thin protective coating to help protect it from wear and staining.
This Louis Vuitton Keepall Bandoulière 55 is made with canvas and cowhide trim. The canvas is cotton coated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is printed and embossed to look like leather. The plastic coating provides an extremely durable and long lasting finish, and is much less expensive than leather. The leather trim is left untreated. Known as vachetta leather, it is vegetable tanned and retains the natural colour of the skin. Over time, it has developed a rich patina.
Knepp Rivet Stool by Bill Amberg Studio. The cowhide is vegetable tanned and is from Knepp’s free-roaming longhorn cattle, a re-wilding project in the UK. It has has been tanned using tree bark, the surface left intact to retain all the natural features and blemishes, and finished with wax. The surface will form natural patination with use.
Ecco Kromatafor is a leather tanned with thermochromic pigment, so that the colour shifts with changes in temperature. Integrating the pigmentation process into the tanning stage ensures the effect is integrated into the structure of the leather, deep below the surface. Image Ecco.
Evermemor by Ecco Leather is a premium full grain cowhide that is tanned and retanned with wax to give it memory. Washing the leather with wax added to the water means it penetrates deep below the surface of the skin. This gives the leather a kind of memory - all the creases and wrinkles are visible on the surface, creating a rich patina over time that develops with use. It is suitable for footwear, clothing and luggage, for example. Image Ecco.
Bridles for horses, including the headgear and buckled straps, is made with cowhide taken from the bend (butt). This part of the animal produces the strongest and thickest leather.
Button tufted semi-aniline cowhide upholstery on a traditional chesterfield sofa. The surface pigmentation and coating has protected the leather, allowing a light patina to develop over time.
Vegetable tanned leather left untreated, also called vachetta leather and used by luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, retains the natural colour of the skin. Over time, it develops a patina and becomes darker and richer. In this case, the leather that has been exposed to the light has become darker, revealing the contrast between new and old.
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