Looking for knowledge about old tannery

[Redbeeerd]

Heya!

I bought this very nice piece online (someone sold very old stock for pennies pretty much) but didn't get any info on what leather it actually is. It seems to be ordinary cow leather and it is pretty soft at 3mm thick. There is a faded logo on the back that I worked out is saying "concerie cogolo" which is an old, no longer operational Italian tannery. What I have managed to find out is that they supposedly invented a method to make the tanning process smell a lot less, and that they provided leather for a few Ferrari models and one Cadillac model. Anyone here have more info or care to speculate?

[Burkhardt]

Off topic, whatever became of the stinky leather you had? Did the smell ever leave and were you able to use it?

[Handstitched]

20 hours ago, Redbeeerd said:

concerie cogolo

Heres a link...I think:

https://www.leathermag.com/features/featurerusskaya-kozha-finishing-plant-opens-in-lorca/

It does reference '  concerie cogolo' , third paragraph 

You could also try searching:  'concerie cogolo tanneries' as I did. 

HS

[Redbeeerd]

6 hours ago, Burkhardt said:

Off topic, whatever became of the stinky leather you had? Did the smell ever leave and were you able to use it?

It's actually on topic: this is one of the pieces. I did a second ozone-treatment and that seems to have done the trick. Now the leather only smells perfectly leathery.

[Redbeeerd]

2 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Heres a link...I think:

https://www.leathermag.com/features/featurerusskaya-kozha-finishing-plant-opens-in-lorca/

It does reference '  concerie cogolo' , third paragraph 

You could also try searching:  'concerie cogolo tanneries' as I did. 

HS

Thanks! Yes, I found that page as well. It seems Cogolo licensed or built several factories across Europe, and I guess their method was included in the package. I found an Italian court document about the foreclosure as well but it only gave me dates. 

Tbh, I love doing this kind of research. It contains nuances of history and knowledge that is hard, or even impossible, to gain through normal education. I almost even sent an email to a person with a PhD covering "tanning culture" but quickly realized the topic was more "tanning bed" and less "tanning vat"