Leather longings
Upholstery leather gets colored, tacked and used in unexpected places
By Jennifer Meacham Dirks
For The Columbian
With its buttery feel and high durability, upholstery leather is already expected in high-end furnishings and cars. With demand heating up, it’s now also showing up in unusual places.
Interior designers are responding by using leather in new and unexpected places such as walls and floors. And manufacturers are responding by rolling out hundreds of new color choices and new antique-looking treatments.
| Some leather lines have up to 300 color choices. Yellow and red are hot this year; black remains the strongest seller, since it is least impacted by trends. |
“The latest trend is area rugs done in leather,” says Victoria Bradford at the Comfort Interiors store in Cascade Park. These rugs are a step beyond coir rugs trimmed in leather. Of the two just arriving in Bradford’s store, one is a leather rug in a leopard print and another is “done like a traditional oriental rug, but where the pattern is painted on.”
Leather is even being used as the floor itself – glued in large squares to the sub floor, like tiles. In bedrooms, leather is being used to cover large panels instead of traditional fabric panels, and bed headboards are getting the leather touch. In living rooms, leather is being mixed with other materials, such as leather along with a Navaho rug in the upholstery of a couch.
Why this demand? Consumers are gaining greater awareness of the qualities of leather – its durability, ease of maintenance, timelessness. And societal experts are seeing a trend with the 20-something set for “everything real.”
“[Consumers] are using much, much more leather, and asking for it,” says Linda Sue, owner of The Brass Tack Vancouver upholstery shop.
Weathered leather
Following the nostalgia trend, new leather is being created with marks to simulate years of wear. There are three main types of wear-marked leathers:
1. Distressed leather – This looks and feels like a well-worn bomber jacket. For years is has been showing up on overstuffed chairs, sofas and ottomans. But not it’s also being used on bench seats for cars and boats. In this category, there is even a cowboy-inspired line of casual distressed leather. It’s colored twice: first with the main color and then with a contrasting top color. Some leather is even being turned inside out. Leather wholesaler Roden Leather Co. has a “Grandpa” line of tan-colored leather crackle-finished on the flesh side.
2. Oil pull-up leather – This is leather topped with oils that migrate across the hide – and are sealed into place – to create a marbled look of lighter and deeper base colors. However, the volatile finish changes with use, because it responds to being touched. Each piece develops its own, sometimes unexpected, patina.
3. Aniline leather – Simply, this is dyed or pigment-colored leather without a protective topcoat. The bare surface is softer (it is coated with a basic wax) and more quickly gains the natural patina of wear. This leather also is less durable, since it’s the topcoat of film-forming materials such as acrylic resins and polyurethane lacquers that protect against abrasion, spills and UV fading.
Textures and colors
The trend in leather is more smooth, soft surfaces as opposed to a deep grain. But textures still remain a heavy seller.
Leather textures include perfing, alligatoring, or embossing. According to trade magazine “Upholstery Journal,” thin strips of leather woven together in a basket weave pattern is another hot texture. Weaved colors are usually beige or light brown.
Decorative tacks also are making a textural return. “We’re seeing a big return to original treatments in furniture restoration,” says Robert Nulph, an upholsterer at Vancouver’s Allbrite Upholstery & Interiors.
As far as solid leather colors, there are now many more choices. Some leather lines have up to 300 color choices. Yellow and red are hot this year; black remains the strongest seller, since it is least affected by trends. Light beiges and grays are filling in a void created from reduced sales on burgundy and green leathers, reports “Upholstery Journal.”
Metallics and pearlized leathers are hitting the racks. This corresponds with the metallic and pearlized paint trend.
Price drawback
The drawback is that leather is more expensive than most other upholstery materials. Prices are around $10 per square foot (when purchased by the whole hide) – this averages out to about $60 per yard.
One solution is vinyl. New products are trying to get closer to the real thing. Vinyls are now softer, butterier and more realistic. Prices here go from $21 to $40 per yard.
Since leather is expensive, people looking for a touch of durable luxury often start with reupholstering dining room chairs. Over-stuffed and wing-backed chairs are the next popular items for reupholstering in leather.
Whether you’re buying new leather furniture or reupholstering an existing piece, Linda Sue at The Brass Tack has this advice: “Good leather furniture should last a lifetime. So buy the absolute best you can afford, because you’ll have it a lifetime.”