Most people who specify leather for their products have never been to a tannery. Especially when it comes to vegetable-tanned furniture leather, many lack the background knowledge about its production and quality.
They've seen samples. They've compared prices. They've checked data sheets. But they've never watched a rawhide go through liming, tanning, splitting, dyeing, and milling – and ultimately emerge as the material they put their brand name on.
I recently filmed this process. Step by step. Two minutes, one tannery, every step visible. The response surprised us – not because people liked the video, but because so many told us they'd never seen anything like it. Material managers, designers, furniture manufacturers – people who work with leather every day and were observing the process for the first time.
That says a lot about our industry: We're good at selling the result. Less good at showing the work behind it.
This article is about both: the work itself – and where it ultimately leads.
The process: What happens between the rawhide and the pattern
Rawhide decomposes if it is not stabilized. That is precisely what tanning does – it transforms a perishable byproduct of the meat industry into a durable material.
The question is: With what?
The majority of leather – roughly 75 to 85 percent – is tanned with chromium salts. This is fast, efficient, and produces versatile leather. If it's done responsibly, there's nothing wrong with it.
Olivenleder® takes a different approach. We use a tannin, which is made entirely from olive tree prunings – the leaves, branches, and wood that farmers cut back each year to improve the harvest. This material used to be waste, burned or left to rot. Today, it is used to tan leather.
The process is plant-based from start to finish. No chromium. No heavy metals. No synthetic chemicals. And thanks to the special properties of olive tree pruning extract, the tanning process is fast. One shift. The same principle as traditional vegetable tanning, but with modern efficiency.
The result: a vegetable-tanned furniture leather that is soft, available in a full color palette, and biodegradable at the end of its life. Even the production waste can be processed into certified organic fertilizer. From hide to leather to soil – a complete cycle.
The origin: An olive grove, not a factory.
Behind every piece Olivenleder® There stands a place that most people would not associate with leather production: a Mediterranean olive grove.
Ancient trees, tended by farmers who know each one personally. The scent of a warm summer evening mingles among the branches. Every year the trees are pruned – not to produce our tannin, but to improve the olive harvest. The pruning waste is a byproduct. Our raw material.
That makes the story of Olivenleder® Unlike most material stories in the industry, this one doesn't begin in a chemical factory. It begins in a field. With sun, soil, and time.
The tannin extract is produced by Silvateam, a company that has been working with plant-based tannins since 1854. The process is natural, REACH-compliant, and free of harmful substances. The active ingredient – oleuropein – is the same molecule found in virgin olive oil and skincare products. You could literally taste our tannin.
The result: B&B Italia
When B&B Italia decides to train its sales teams on the leather of one material supplier – by name – then something remarkable has happened.
B&B Italia doesn't usually talk about the origin of its materials. They don't need to. The furniture speaks for itself. Their pieces can be found in museums, design collections, and living rooms around the world. The brand stands for uncompromising quality.
When Blandine Brixner – responsible for leather purchasing at B&B Italia – told me that her people should know what Olivenleder® I understood where it comes from and how it is produced: The material had crossed a threshold.
It's no longer just about meeting specifications. It's about the conversation with the customer. And in that conversation, olive groves, clean chemistry, and a tanning process that makes you feel good come out of it are now involved.
Chrome-free upholstery leather – not just for the specifications folder. For the sales floor.
Why this is important beyond furniture
B&B Italia works in the furniture sector. But Olivenleder® It works across industries.
The same leather used to upholster a B&B armchair is also found in car interiors, fashion accessories, bags, shoes, and upholstered furniture. The tanning agent is the same. The principle is the same. The quality standard is the same.
What changes is the application – and the story each brand tells with it.
For the automotive industry, it's a leather interior that's free of heavy metals and biodegradable at the end of its lifespan. For fashion, it's a material with a traceable, transparent supply chain. For furniture, it's the kind of leather that makes people stop, touch it, and ask: What is this?
The answer is always the same: a by-product hide, tanned with a by-product from the olive harvest. Nothing else.
See for yourself
If you are working on a product – in the furniture industry, the automotive industry, fashion or elsewhere – and are wondering whether clean, vegetable-tanned leather could be part of your story: Let's talk.
We'll send you a sample. You'll understand as soon as you hold it in your hands.
Would you like to learn more about clean, vegetable-tanned leather?
Contact us →