Materials for Design

Bovine Leather

Without doubt leather is ‘the’ sensory material: it has a rich, warm and distinctive odour, a naturally and individually grained surface pattern, and it even makes a sound (creaks) when being broken in. There are lots of variables to be considered when choosing leather for different applications. Things like breeding, age and care of the animal are all factors: for example, young calves are less likely to have damaged skin due to bites or scratches. This means that large, single pieces of leather are generally more difficult to find in high quality due to the difficulty in finding older calves with undamaged skin. Other considerations include the skill of the individual removing the hide, where on the cow the leather comes from, ...