designer leather furniture conservation
 

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Gilt leather  Furniture  Jacket  Cars  Various

Designer furniture, by people such as Arne Jacobsen and Pierre Paulin, include chairs with leather covers. These are now becoming worn with consequent loss of colour, and the leather is starting to tear. In most cases the leather can be repaired and the missing colour reinstated. The aim is to give a serviceable chair and to retain the patina without re-covering with new leather. Occasionally this is not viable and the leather will be replaced. The Pierre Paulin chair below could have been repaired for very light use but because the leather was an essential structural element it was replaced.

Pierre Paulin chair before and after restoration. In this example the leather was essential to the structure of the chair and the tears were in critical places. It was decided to replace the leather with new oak bark bridle leather which was chosen as a close match for the original. The new leather had not been used when the photograph was taken. In time it should stretch to a similar shape to that of the original.

gilt leather  furniture  jacket  cars  various 

©2003 Sturge Conservation Studio
Last modified: February, 2015