The leathers we use for our house designs are from Tuscany, Italy, where vegetable tanning is an artisan tradition, handed down from father to son for centuries. Each piece of hide comes with quality trademark, Pelle Conciata al Vegetal in Toscana (Tuscan Vegetable Tanned Leather), which means that the leather is produced in compliance with the Consortium’s Production Regulations coinciding with tradition, Tuscan origin, quality and craftsmanship. Among the different tanning methods, vegetable tanning is currently still the most traditional, and the only one able to give leather its unique characteristics.
Vegetable-tanned leather matures without ruining. It absorbs traces of our life and turns into a warm, intense shade as we travel through time.
The practice of vegetable tanning is carried out by the use of tannin, a substance contained in many different types of plants, in the bark, leaves, wood, roots, or even in the fruits depending on the species. Each process taken when transforming raw hides into long-lasting materials is done in full respect of man and the environment.
- No animal is killed for its skin. The raw hides used by the Consortium's tanneries are the discarded by-products of the food industry producing meat for human consumption.
- Being tanned with natural tannins, the left over chemicals can be easily disposed of at the end of its life.
- Many of the substances used during the tanning process are recovered, recycled and reused in different fields. E.g. Hair removed from raw hides is transformed into agricultural fertilizer; sludge produced by the depuration plants is reused in the construction field to make bricks, etc.
- Vegetable-tanned leather, recognizable from its trademark, does not contain any toxic substance such as azo-dyes, nickel, PCP or chrome VI.
