Custom Order
The Glossary
Eighteen terms you’ll meet on labels, in listings and in our Journal — each explained the way we’d explain it across the bench. Link to any term directly with its #anchor.
The intact top layer of the hide with the natural grain untouched, scars included. The strongest, longest-lived cut of leather; it develops a patina instead of wearing out. Everything at Paz is full-grain.
Leather whose surface has been lightly sanded and refinished for uniformity. More consistent than full-grain but slightly weaker — and it ages politely rather than beautifully.
A legal grade, not a quality claim: the lower layers left after the grain is split away, often glued, stamped with imitation grain and coated. It cracks where full-grain would only crease.
Shredded leather scraps glued onto a backing sheet — usually 10–20% leather by content. The particle board of the leather world; avoid it in anything meant to last.
Tanning hides with plant tannins — oak, mimosa, chestnut bark — over weeks or months. Produces firm, warm-smelling leather that burnishes well and develops rich patina. The slow option, and the one we choose.
Tanning with chromium salts in about a day. Produces soft, uniform, water-resistant leather that stays the same for its whole life. Nearly all fast-fashion leather is chrome-tanned.
Full-grain leather finished with a heavy wax coat that shifts colour when bent or scratched, giving an instant vintage, two-tone character. Named after saddle leather — no horses involved. Several of our table pieces are cut from it.
An Italian vegetable-tanned leather (Badalassi Carlo tannery) with a matte, lightly textured surface that polishes and darkens dramatically with use. A favourite at our bench for runners and wallets.
Hand sewing with two needles on one waxed thread, crossing inside every hole. Unlike a machine lock stitch it cannot unravel — cut one loop and the seam still holds. Every Paz seam is saddle-stitched.
Thinning the edge of a leather panel with a blade so folds and seams stay slim and neat instead of bulky. Invisible when done well — which is the point.
Polishing a cut leather edge with friction, water or wax until the fibres seal into a smooth, glass-like finish. The last step of every piece we make, and the first thing to check when judging quality.
The gradual deepening of colour and sheen that full-grain leather develops with handling, sunlight and time. A record of use, not a defect. We wrote a whole essay about it.
Linen thread drawn through beeswax before stitching. The wax locks stitches in place, resists moisture, and lets the thread bed into the leather over time.
Fork-like tools hammered into leather to mark or open perfectly spaced, slanted stitching holes before hand sewing. The reason hand-stitched seams have that distinctive angled look.
The two structural layers of a hide: the dense outer grain, where strength and character live, and the looser corium beneath. Every leather grade is really telling you which layer you’re buying. Full guide here.
Sealing the raw cut edges of leather by burnishing, waxing or painting in thin layers. The detail that most clearly separates handmade work from mass production — factories rarely have the time.
A centuries-old Anatolian lace technique built with a sewing needle, knot by knot, no machine involved. At Paz, hand-made lace joined with full-grain leather is the studio’s signature — two slow crafts in one object.
A piece made once and never repeated. Because every Paz design is drawn, cut and stitched by hand, no two pieces are ever identical — even within the same design.