Manufactum key bell cowhide

We have the classic key bell made from our Manufactum leather. At the opening, the leather is open-edged processed, dyed and waxed.

When it comes to our leather collection, you might recognise a sense of and attention to detail: from selecting the leather to setting the last seam. We have our small leather goods made unlined; therefore, they display the back of the leather, and you find all typical natural irregularities “honestly” recognisable. Plus, they come raw-edged. Originating from German cattle, mainly from southern German regions, the hides get their vegetable tanning in Germany – in slowly rotating oak barrels in a tanning broth with vegetable ingredients. Every addition has its specific effect on the tanned leather: mimosa, the bark tanning agent deriving from the black acacia, and quebracho wood provide suppleness, and the tanning agents of the sweet chestnut contribute to the leather’s beautiful reddish hue. Additionally, you find many articles available imbued in black.

The finishing, i.e. what subsequently happens to the leather that has become tanned in the barrel, makes a big difference to everything common today. To get rid of the brittleness typical for a 1.5-2 mm thick leather after tanning, you have to “soak” and grease it, a process resulting in supple and durable leathers. Since the middle of the 19th century, the ingredient of choice for greasing leather was animal tallow, the so-called tanner’s fat or “dégras”. Not to mention today’s inferior processes, we go back a stage further and resort to the means to which, according to connoisseurs, the legendary old Russia leather owes its reputation: fish oil and wood tar. In the rotating barrel, the ancient fatting agents cod oil and birch bark tar give the leather a lasting suppleness that will come to perfection over time, while the birch bark tar naturally impregnates the leather.