Color variables in burnished leathers - see the variance

One thing a lot of people have difficulty grasping is color variances in all the burnished leathers. Being that these are hand-tinted leathers AFTER the piece has been built, the difference from one piece to another can be quite dramatic. Ordering a burnished leather is not something perfectionists should do (and you know who you are). If you are walking a burnished leather back and forth to the front window to catch hue changes, then a burnished leather is not for you. However, if you like Christmas Morning surprises, and appreciate beauty over color accuracy, then this might be you leather!

This H&M "Author" chair arrived today in my store and I put it in the showroom close enough to catch a photo of it with a Rugby Club Lounger I have on display. Both are in the same leather, Weston Cane Burnished. To look at them, you would think not. Such is the nature of burnished leather. When in doubt, request a CFA (Cutting for Approval) at time of order and you will get a sample of how it will look prior to production.

Attachment 7082

Duane, how good is a CFA if the actual piece is burnished after it is built? Will the factory also burnish the leather sample used for the CFA?

A CFA is spot-on, because when they do that, they make up a large sample, cut it in half and mail the dealer 1/2, and keep the other in the finish department along with the work order. Then when approved, the artist has that piece to work from in doing the entire project.

Duane,
I am the one looking at possibly ordering the 2 Rugby Sofa's and 2 Rugby Loungers in the Western Cane Burnished, I just received my sample this past week.

I have a quick question, see above where you show the variance between the 2 due to being burnished, we prefer the lighter of the 2. It seems like most of the WCB are the color on the left above, but I have seen a few pictures that look like the right. Can we request that it looks more like the left? I know it will not be exact, but the difference is fairly drastic so I was curious if this is something that can be requested.

Thank you very much!!!!

Burnishing is a topcoat glazing applied over an existing aniline-dyed pull up leather that has been lightly sanded down to take the burnishing (darkening glaze). Then it's sealed when done. It's hand applied, so it's tricky business to try to specify a tone to what is essentially an artist. Plus the underlying leathers will be different colors from batch to batch, only painted leathers are consistent. So you really can't specify a color tone, pretty much its limited to "Heavy" or "Light" burnishing requests which only affects the amount of darkening glaze on the piece. Even then, there is no guarantee you will like the way it turns out.