The Art of Hand Made Patina

 

Patina is an art crafted and designed for shoes by Olga Berluti, member of the famous French brand Berluti which took the world by storm in the 80’s. Hand coloring of shoes was then a fairly new thing in the world of luxury shoes and leather product.

The patina art craft method is a hand dyeing procedure of leather, which creates a completely unique patina with an aged effect. The procedure begins with unfinished crust leather, which has been tanned and handled, but not dyed yet.

The artist applies the dyes manually to the uncut hide and the fully assembled shoe, with the usage of white cloths, brushes and sometimes sponges, to create a unique look on each and every pair of shoes. With attentive care and superior savoir-faire, a dedicated craftsman perfects the personality of each pair of shoes, helping forge their special “soul”.

The Patina art craft is still considered to be very young. There are many patina techniques still to be discovered. Very few artists lead this new art.

Discovering new coloring techniques and using secret recipes and materials makes the patina artist job a very skilled and unique one. A good patina artist is able to reproduce a color precisely on demand, and uses it effectively on shoes as also on belts, bags or any other luxury leather goods.

Patina artist initially tries to impart a look on the shoes that make them appear older an aged. Colors are faded to create a nice old world charm to the shoe, which is attractive to the eye and comfortable to the fit. The new shoes bought and manufactured in a modern day set up are jaded and impersonal. This art craft and the colorist’s work on it cater to personalization of the product. These art pieces formed will probably be looked upon as collection pieces 40 years down the road.

Additionally we have the Patina Intensity Selector feature on our MTO 3D Configurator Tool. You can choose the “intensity” of the patina, that is, the amount of shadow or aging effect applied.

Two intensity levels are available on the LION BOOTS 3D Configurator: the Standard Patina Intensity and the new Dark Patina Intensity, with darker shadows and dimmer tones.