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I'm thinking about about the following leathers on a Journey recliner, Brigade Harness (Gr 3) and Hyde Park Brownie Burnished (Gr 3). Is the Brigade Harness really dark on a piece of furniture? It doesn't look too dark on my sample. Also is the Hyde Park Brownie pebbly like a football? I have 2 samples, one is pebbly, the other is smooth. I'm wondering how it is on a piece of furniture. Any other comments/opinions or pictures of these leathers would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks!
Brigade Harness is a natural pull-up leather, so if you take your sample and pull it hard with your hands, you will see a color burst and the leather will lighten, the hide is designed to do that. When you use the sofa, it will become full of those color bursts as it reacts to pressure on the hide (some people who are not well tuned-in to leather types will say it "scratches"). Hyde Park is a burnished leather, so its a hide that is tinted and toned after the piece has been made up and will not change colors much during use (keep it out of direct sunlight).
Samples are made from scrap leather, usually the parts (typically 20% to 25% of every hide) that is considered salvage. Typically these come from the neck and belly areas of the cow and are wrinkled and pebbly. They will also be not as soft in most cases. The leather used on the furniture itself will be smooth in the case of Hyde Park, not pebbly. Keep in mind however, this is a natural product from an animal, so textures will vary as will colors, markings, etc, especially in the full aniline category you are looking at.
Thanks so much for the information about these leathers. I pulled my Brigade sample and saw the lightening effect you mentioned. I really like the way it changes. I've seen several posts about Hyde Park, but few about Brigade. What is your opinion on using this leather for the Journey recliner?
Did you see the recent post under the Hancock and Moore Photos section? It has several photos of the Journey chair in this leather. That will give you a good idea of how it looks. One consideration is that the stiffer leathers may not tailor as easily as more supple leathers would in the areas with all the pleats, so the feel of the chair my be different than with softer leathers. Duane would know more about this of course. Attachment 11184
Using a Pull-Up leather on a piece is an acquired taste, and dare I say requires some sophistication an understanding of leather. To myself - and many other professionals in the leather industry - a good pull-up hide is always a good choice.
I have to qualify that however, because folks just coming into leather furniture ownership will recoil at the pressure marks and have an intense dislike of the "scratches", nor can they tolerate the color variance in panels you are going to get in this class of hide. Most newbies getting into leather are better off with a finished (painted) leather as they want to see that evenness of finish and want every spill to roll off it.
It's like drinking wine. When you first drink wine you like sweet wines such as Rhine, or Rose. As you palette becomes more sophisticated then you move out of the sweet wines and into varietals, and from there into complex and dry within those varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon or a nice Pinot Noir.
As long as you understand what you are buying, a pull-up leather is superb and will age beautifully with use and time (keep it out of direct sunlight).
My husband and I like the natural look of a pure aniline, pull-up leather. We like the natural markings and color variations. We noticed that Brigade is a thick leather and are wondering if it will tailor as well as a Hyde Park leather. Looking at pictures on the forum, we noticed that pleats on the arms of a chair done in Brigade, don't look as tight as the arms of a chair in Hyde Park. Is this due to the nature of the leather or the design of the chair?
The first picture is a chair in Brigade, the second is in Hyde Park. (This is my first attempt to add images to a post, so I apologize if not correct.)
That Journey leather in the first photo has a roll arm of fiber-fill cushion, so it will never be tightly tailored due to the nature of that design. Both the Brigade and the Hyde Park are thicker-cut hides so all things being equal will tailor up the same on a given frame.
However, these are handmade pieces so it all depends on the craftsman "pulling" the leather prior to the tack down, which is incredibly hard to do. One of the standing jokes at Hancock and Moore is you have to retire when you can't pull the hides tight anymore. There is likely to be more variance in that regard than in the leather type itself.