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You can make leather resistant to just about everything, but interfere too much and it won’t breathe or have the touch and profumo of leather. It has to be functional, but in a bespoke context it’s all about the emozione of leather.’
—Marco Foglizzo

Paolo Foglizzo has just emptied a huge suitcase full of leather samples onto the table. The variety is bewildering.

The pieces range from full-grain cow leather (bull skins are preferred, as the hides are bigger and less elastic) to suede and nabuk (similar in appearance, suede derives from the less valuable underside of the hide, while finer nabuk is from the top grain). There are exotic leathers such as eel, stingray