Like Leather, alternatives to leather

An exhibition showcasing fifteen sustainable alternatives for leather. Wild Leather is a series of discarded wild boar skins turned into beautiful bold hides. Every year, a few thousand wild boars are shot in the Netherlands for safety reasons. The meat is eaten, but the skins are discarded. Mies Loogman developed various tanning methods to use these skins and give them the value it deserves. The Like Leather exhibition shows a number of products, concepts and production methods developed by designers looking for alternatives to leather. Mostly from the desire to contribute to a circular economy and a sustainable world. Some of them start with a totally different source - the skin of fish for example, or the entrails and bladders of sheep, pigs and cows. Materials that usually end up with the waste. There are also designers who use vegetable fibers such as the leaves of a palm tree. And even from coffee grounds you can make a cover for a notebook. Other examples show designers trying to extend the life span of leather or to recycle leather goods. The exhibition was curated by Leonne Cuppen, Daria Biryukova and Sabine Silaraja for Yksi Expo.