SMART CYCLE – Materia Viva is a project promoted by D-house Urban Laboratory, in collaboration with the tanneries of Solofra.

Now in its second edition, the project aims to transform by-products of the tanning process into new innovative and sustainable resources, fostering dialogue between craftsmanship, technology, and creativity.

The initiative seeks to go beyond the traditional boundaries of the fashion sector and explore applications in fields that, until now, have been distant, such as interior decoration, furnishing accessories, and construction.

Five project hubs form the core of this experimentation: spaces dedicated to testing new approaches to circular economy, representing the fruitful cross-pollination between research and design.

Re:Skin Brick is a project that originates from the recovery of tannery by-products and their transformation into innovative building elements. Leather scraps, carefully selected and treated, are compacted and blended with specific binders to obtain resistant and versatile bricks.

The process makes it possible to valorize materials that would otherwise be discarded, reducing the environmental impact of the tanning industry and offering a product with new application potential. The resulting bricks have a solid consistency and a surface that retains visible and tactile traces of the original leather, making each piece unique.

Re:Skin Brick is designed for use in the fields of design and architecture, both as a decorative cladding and as a solution for innovative surfaces. This approach goes beyond simple recycling, proposing a true regeneration process in which by-products are transformed into project materials, combining aesthetics, sustainability, and functionality.

The REGENERATING LEATHER Kit is an innovation project that enhances leather by transforming tanning waste into new beauty. The goal is to give new life to already-used leathers, reduce waste, and promote more sustainable design.

It is not just a simple set of products, but a real method: an intelligent cycle of care and regeneration that extends the life of leather coverings, restoring their quality, softness, and renewed appearance.

The process consists of three complementary steps. The REGENERATING LEATHER CREAM deeply nourishes the leather fibers, restoring elasticity and preparing them for the next treatment. The FINISHING acts as a refining product, evening out color and surface, masking the signs of time, and bringing leather back to its natural harmony. The SPRAY TREATMENT completes and seals the process, protecting against dust, wear, and external agents, while ensuring long-lasting brilliance.

The kit becomes a practical and effective tool to regenerate leather sofas and furnishings, combining innovation, recovery, and sustainability.

Second Skin Furniture introduces a new generation of furnishings covered with a “second layer” of regenerated leather, where aesthetics and sustainability coexist in perfect harmony. Through a circular process of recovering tannery scraps, leather is given new life, transforming into versatile and innovative surfaces.

A contemporary patchwork that reinterprets existing materials and elevates them into a true design language, restoring value to what would otherwise be discarded.

Each piece of furniture thus becomes a symbol of conscious design, combining elegance, durability, and respect for the environment, while opening new creative possibilities in the field of interior design.

Leather on Leather explores the expressive potential of leather through new overlays and material combinations.

With Leather on Leather Furniture, leather is layered onto itself, generating original furnishing solutions where textures and thicknesses interact in harmony, creating surfaces with a strong visual and tactile impact.

The Leather on Leather Jacket becomes a conceptual garment that reinterprets the material through innovative techniques, turning it into a symbol of the crossover between fashion and research.

A journey that highlights the versatility of regenerated leather and its role as a key player in contemporary design.

Weave Bond is a project that demonstrates how embroidery can become a tool for regeneration. Through this technique, crust leather scraps can be recovered and reused, assembled into panels that, once treated with traditional tanning processes, are transformed into regenerated leather material.

The result is a truly circular process: from waste material to recycled material, versatile and ready for new applications. Weave Bond reinterprets the concept of leather patchwork, restoring its aesthetic and functional value, and lends itself to multiple uses in the fashion industry as well as in other industrial sectors.

This innovation not only reduces waste, but also introduces a creative language capable of combining craftsmanship, design, and sustainability, projecting leather into a future of continuous recovery and transformation.

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