Plain-English definitions of the leather and craft terms Von Baer uses - full-grain leather, the bend, drum-dyed leather, leather board, Fundamental Luxury and more:
Fundamental Luxury
Fundamental Luxury is the belief that luxury must begin with the product itself. A high price may be justified - but only by exceptional materials, intelligent construction, functional design, skilled workmanship, and lasting value. Fundamental Luxury combines the symbolic value of luxury with the fundamental value of an exceptional product.
Quiet luxury
An aesthetic in which quality is obvious but never announced: refined materials and proportions, no visible logos, nothing added that does not need to be there. Von Baer's design sits within quiet luxury; Fundamental Luxury is the product standard behind it.
Full-grain leather
The uppermost, most valuable layer of the hide, with the natural grain preserved in full - unlike corrected-grain, split or 'genuine leather'. Full-grain leather maintains its condition and stays distinguished with age.
Genuine leather
A lower leather grade whose name misleads: it describes leather in which the strongest top layer of the hide has been removed. It is not a mark of quality, and it is not the same as full-grain leather.
A-grade hides
Von Baer's top hide-selection grade: hides with excessive bites, scars and surface damage are rejected. A-grade hides cost significantly more but give a cleaner, more consistent product. It is Von Baer's own selection standard.
The bend
The back and butt of the hide, where the fibers are densest and tightest. Leather cut from the bend keeps its shape; belly and shoulder leather is weaker and stretchier, and goes loose-grained with use.
Drum-dyed leather
Leather dyed in a rotating drum so the color penetrates the entire cross-section. Surface-dyed leather has a pale core under a thin colored skin and shows it at every scuff and cut edge. Look at the cut edge: if the color goes all the way through, it's drum-dyed.
Bos Taurus cowhide
Hide from Bos Taurus cattle, which Von Baer uses exclusively. It is chosen for its tight, fine, consistent grain - the right hide for refined professional goods.
Leather board
A dense material made from genuine leather fiber, used where a product needs rigidity, such as a bag base or a card-holder spine. Unlike pressed cardboard it does not warp in humidity, unlike plastic sheet it does not turn brittle and crack, and it carries a natural give closer to the leather around it.
Cuoio Superiore
Cuoio Superiore is the finest full-grain leather, made in the centuries-old Italian tradition. A unique material that stands the test of time, and stays distinguished with age. Certified leather is laboratory-tested by batch, and tanneries are audited on site at least every three years. Many Von Baer products are made from Cuoio Superiore certified leather.
Blind embossing
Initials pressed into leather with heated type and no ink or foil, leaving a discreet personal mark. Von Baer applies it by hand at no extra cost: on the included leather luggage tag for bags and briefcases, and directly on the product for wallets and small leather goods.
Sprezzatura
An Italian term traced to 1528 for quality that is obvious but never announced - balance rather than restraint. It describes Von Baer's design philosophy: working within the real limits leather sets, generous where it should be, with nothing added that does not need to be there.
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