Bordoni Leathers is not a factory: it is Cecilia Bordoni’s atelier.
Here every hide is embossed and painted by hand, one at a time, using techniques the women of her family have passed down for over two centuries.
There are no production runs: every piece is made to order, and no two are ever alike.
The atelier
In her workshop in Zola Predosa, just outside Bologna, Cecilia works leather as it was worked in the eighteenth century: chisel, mallet, moulds, gold leaf and brush. No industrial machinery, no assembly line — only the time each piece demands.
The case of chisels, once Maria Bordoni’s and later Ida Pasquali’s, Cecilia’s grandmother. The very same tools are still in use in the atelier today.
The time of two hands
One person works in this atelier, and every gesture is manual. The pressure of the hand, the hammering, the laying of colour mean that two hides bearing the same pattern are never identical: each piece carries the unrepeatable mark of its maker. It is the difference between a product and a work of craftsmanship.
Cecilia’s hands laying the colour, one pass at a time.
Made to order
Decorated hides, panels, boiserie and coverings: every project begins with a direct conversation with Cecilia — design, colour, finish. Lead times are agreed together, as they depend on quantity and type of work.
Embossed hides in progress: at the centre, the medallion with the griffin.
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