In terms of design, it corresponds to the zipper bag that prudent financial institutions used to provide their business customers with for transporting bundled banknotes. In most cases, the material used was probably not as excellent as the leather used here. Upgraded in this way, it offers plenty of potential applications. Some suggestions: Pens, notebook and address book fit in very well, travel documents, passport and ID cards too; and anyone looking for a simple but very hard-wearing toiletry bag will also be well served by this bag.

Sonnenleder in Bodman-Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance in the Hegau region stands for consistently purposeful, pure design. The meticulously working company maintains the most traditional method of leather production: pit tanning. Solely hides from southern German cattle find their way into the pits of the company. The tanning agents used by Sonnenleder contain, for the most part, decoctions from bark, roots and fruits. The hides undergo the tanning process in twelve pits with tanning broths slightly rising in concentration; the tanning agents transform the protein fibres of the hides into leather fibres in six to twelve weeks. In the next step, the tanned, then air-dried hides get a fatliquoring finish in a rotating barrel; the composition of the high-quality grease is a well-kept secret recipe. The finished leather thus has a characteristic, slightly light brown-reddish hue (hence the term “red-tanned”), which looks different in each piece. Day-to-day use and exposure to the elements change the shade and result in a patina, a form of natural protection on the surface. Eventually, the leather gains an unmistakable appearance over time. Even the thoroughly imbued leather acquires a shiny patina with use.