Every year the vegetable tanners from Tuscany make use of the major leather fair in Italy, Lineapelle to display beautifully designed products made from vegetable tanned leather. This year it was called Craft the Leather and was on display in February at the Fair in Milan.
The Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium invited 10 students from 10 international fashion and design institutes to live for a week in the heart of Tuscany’s leather district, exploring the production of an iconic material of local excellence: Tuscan vegetable tanned leather.
Each designer created a collection of personal accessories using exclusively Tuscan veg tanned leather. Students came from all over the world:
Joowon Bae KOOKMIN UNIVERSITY – ROK
Maria Sole Ferragamo CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS – UK
Timothy Jacob Hooker FASHION INSTITUTE – USA
Meri Kirjavainen HAMK – FIN
Sanae Kitamura HIKO MIZUNO – JP
Eva Klabalova SLEM – NL
Mahsa Kordbacheh ARTEZ – NL
Zhan Xuan Pan BUNKA FASHION COLLEGE – JP
Alejandra Simonetta LONDON COLLEGE OF FASHION – UK
Arnold Wong RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL – USA
Vera Pelle Italiana Conciata al Vegetale (Genuine Italian Vegetable-Tanned Leather Consortium), announced Maria Sole Ferragamo as the winner of its 4th edition.
Ferragamo is about to conclude the second and last year of a Master degree in this discipline at Central Saint Martins University in London, where she is exploring the use of leather remnants from the fashion industry for the creation of jewellery for the luxury market.
Vegetable tanned leather comprises the foundation of the designer’s collection.
“I love how vegetable tanned leather changes over time, it ages with you, carrying your story. In my opinion this creates a very intimate relationship between the wearer and a product”, said Ferragamo.
“Craft the Leather has been an enlightening experience. I have been fascinated by the passion and heart that all of the people that I’ve had the chance to meet during the workshop”, she added.
The Special Prize of the Jury Panel was given to Zhan Xuan Pan of the Bunka Fashion College Tokyo for her collection “In the Sea”.