Top Quality Leather Furniture
LEATHER
Leather is timeless and beautiful and admired and loved in many ways.
Its durability has stood the test of time and is a first choice for so many things we use in our daily life. Furniture pieces, boots, bags, cases we won’t name them all, you know what they are.
There are several different ways leather is selected and processed and differences that seperates the ‘qualities’ or ‘grades’ and in turn the price.
Quality leather hides go through particular treatments and here we explain some of that to make your selection clearer.
Top Grain Leather and Full Grain Leather. Don’t be fooled by the word ‘top’ here, this is just the name of the process this leather goes through.
Top Grain Leather has had the natural grain sanded away and an imitation grain has been stamped in its place. This gives the grain a more even all over look to the finished product.
Full Grain Leather has had no sanding process at all. The markings and grain you see in the leather is the natural characteristics of the animal from which it was collected from. Full Grain Leather will be selected from top quality hides. This process looks and feels more natural and is treated by transparent aniline dyes.
Pure Aniline Leather is also known as Aniline Full Grain Leather, True Aniline Leather and Naked Aniline Leather all are Natural Grains (not sanded or stamped.) This leather is of the elite 5% of leathers available and is favoured by people who love the natural characteristics of the grain and its markings. These leathers are selected from the very purest quality of the finest leather.
So if it is the very best you want then the Pure Aniline may be your choice.
Semi-aniline Leather falls in the top 10 – 15% of available leathers and is processed a little more than the Full Grain Leather. The coating process will cover minor defects of the characteristics of the grain but will not cover the natural markings and characteristics.
Nubuck Leather is a type of aniline leather. It has a velvety like texture and is extremely soft and lush in appearance. The grain has not been processed but has been brushed and polished. Running your hand across the surface of Nubuck leather you will see the shade change. Nubuck is a slightly higher quality than suede. Suede is the inner side of the hide.
Corrected Leather Grains falls into the Top Grain Leather category. These will go through a considerable amount of sanding, buffing, stamping and dyeing. This is to give an even and uninterrupted uniform look to the grain. This process removes any environmental natural characteristics like insect bites, barb wire scratches etc. Corrected leather falls into 18% of available leathers.
Given this information you possibly know which type of leather is your preferred choice and happy that you know a little bit more about how and why leather looks the way it does and why higher qualities of leather exist.
It is recommended not to choose a leather lesser than the mentioned 18% for your next piece of furniture. Patent and bonded leathers don’t measure up to the strength and durability and quality of the Full and Top Grain leathers.
Another element where top quality is sourced can be geographical. Some of the finest leather suppliers will only collect from cooler countries with a moderate climate instead of the tropics. Places where the animals will be less affected by insects and disease.
Some will only use the ‘drum’ dyed process to ensure full even colour permeation.
You may have heard that Italian Leather is one of the best if not the finest leather in the world. These elements mentioned are a huge factor in why this is so.
And these leathers are coming to deLadonica soon. We can’t wait to bring you beautiful works of furniture pieces with a massive selection of fabrics and styles and colours for you to choose from. You will be able to chat with us and we can create custom designed furniture that you will love.