We only use full vegetable tanned hide, as they offer a combination of benefits that we feel offers the best product for you, they are extremely hard wearing, looking better with age, tough and very durable, a good thickness and a lovely natural finish, particularly suited to antique furniture. All our hides are purchased unstained and are stained here by ourselves, and this offering an infinite range of colours and finishes. They can be stained to a uniform colour or faded to simulate age, when fading is combined with a distressed finish, an ageless elegance is attained.
Although there are many cheaper options available, notably thin skiver (sheepskin) and some softer hides not tanned in the traditional manner which mark very easily, we choose to put longevity over price for our customers and thus only use the full vegetable tanned hides. As these are not resurfaced to uniformity, but wear their history with pride, there are some natural marks on the hide, but in our opinion are all the better for it, giving a natural look, a world away from the artificial uniformity of cheaper options.
Due to the thickness and stiffness of these hides, we are unable to offer a mail order service on them, and because our hides are fitted here to the furniture before tooling, we can guarantee tooling that is in line with the recess. Obviously, we offer a range of tooling options, both blind (black) and gold (which may be toned down if required), alongside an infinite colour choice and range of finishes to make sure you get the leather top exactly as you pre visualised it and suitable to your particular piece of furniture.