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Trying to Create a New Raw Material Out of Leather Waste

Jorge Penadés solidifies cut-offs into "Structural Skin"

By Rain Noe - May 29, 2015

in Materials | Furniture Design | Design Festivals

Madrid-based designer Jorge Penadés has been working on ways to salvage wasted leather. We don't mean old leather that's been discarded, we mean brand-new leather, fresh off of the factory floor. "Leather is a beautiful material but very inefficient in terms of its manufacturing process due to its natural origins," he writes. "No matter which tanning process a hide went through, the quality of a piece of leather depends directly on the part of the animal that came from. The higher the movement [on the cow's body], the lower the quality:"

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Those ratios being what they are, "companies involved in the production of leather goods produce a large amount of discarded materials, leftovers and offcuts." Thus Penadés has been experimenting with shredding the scraps and forming them into a new raw material that he can then shape into furniture.

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This video shows you his forming process:

Structural Skin from Jorge Penadés on Vimeo.

We're curious as to what type of resin he's using; his project description says that his end material, which he calls Structural Skin, "is made 100% from an animal source," but plant resins come from trees and synthetic resin obviously comes out of a lab.

Penadés' early attempts at reworking the material yielded the finish you see below (and in the video above):

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However, further experimentation has led him to shave the material on four sides, yielding a different look:

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Penadés and his work will be appearing at next month's DMY Berlin Design Festival under the "New Talents" category.

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Scott Brown

9 years ago

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It's hide glue - the hot-plate for the glue pot is clearly visible at 1:20. Whatever the strength of the finished material, don't ever get it wet!

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Richard Cobley

9 years ago

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Amazing innovation. In such a wasteful industry we need more forward thinking peole like Jorge!

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Sam A

9 years ago

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I wish there was a demonstration of how strong the beams are. If you can only hang one shirt on that beam then be clear about it. Elsewhere on the site there are what look like seats. Is that an actual application of this material?

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Corey Vaughan

9 years ago

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Neat! I wonder if the "resin" is a type of modified hide glue.

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