Circa 2019
Brazilian design studio Furf designed furniture made with a leather-like material made from leaves, developed by organic tannery Nova Kaeru.
Vegan, plastic free leather alternatives are a booming industry at the moment. One of the most notable examples is Piñatex, made from leftover leaves after the pineapple harvest, but there are also leather-like materials made of anything from tree bark to fruit leftovers to mycelium (for an extensive list of options, click here).
Nova Kaeru’s material, called beLEAF, is a leather-like material made from the elephant ear plant, a plant with very big leaves. The material has similar characteristics to animal leather, but the main difference is, aside from being vegan, that the CO2 emissions of its manufacturing process is compensated by the carbon absorption of planting and leaf growth.