Craft the Leather 2023-24

Craft The Leather is an immersive international training project offered by the Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium, by invitation only, dedicated to a group of talented young designer/makers from all over the world.

The schools, selected from among the most prestigious and innovative international fashion and design institutes with a culture of making, participate with a teacher and their most promising student.

The project was divided into two phases with an immersive training workshop in the summer of 2023 in the Tuscan Tanning District, to learn about the qualities and potential of a leather created according to a centuries-old tradition and highest environmental and ethical standards. In the second half of the year each designer created a collection using exclusively leather provided by the Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium.

During summer 2023 I had the privilage, along with Final year BFA Fashion Product student - Balbina Brunel to particiapte in CLT and engage with all senses in the heart of the Tuscan Leather District.

Layers of experience: the light on the fields early in the morning as we headed to the tanneries, slanting through the hides slowing drying, and the soft glow of the long twilight in the courtyard of the convent as we share our evening meal and final glass of the local wine. Pungent smells in the tanneries of tannins and oils, and along old walls, capers in flower. The rhythmic rotation of the great drums and so much deep information from experts of process, research, and craft. And then the leathers, full and rich and pliant, high touch experience that communicates all that has come before, and hints at all it may become.

This was an opportunity e to step into the world with an awareness of our choices, to consider critically where things come from and all the decisions regarding practice and impact, we can accept the challenge to make wonderful things, that can last and be used for ever. Heritage craft and innovation, stewardship of land, resources and tradition, and new instruments of accountability become the tools to make meaningful projects, to craft the leather.