Origin

Most ordinary cattle farms will only raise their herd for a short time, dependant upon the facilities that they have and their size of pasture. So during a typical 4 year life span the cattle may change hands at market 3 or 4 times, each time acquiring a new branding mark, in effect rendering the hide useless for our purposes. Most of our hides come from relatively small remote cattle farms in France, Italy and Brazil, that are able to rear their own herds for their full lifespan, and being remote, are happy to ear tag their heard as opposed to branding the hide. As the farms we use give equal emphasis to the meat they produce as well as the hides, they refrain from using barbed wire fencing that can easily snag the hides. The farms will also pay particular attention to keeping the herd free of parasites which would otherwise cause the cattle to scratch forming bald patches.
 
As you can appreciate the farms we select are quite special and rare in themselves hence making our product beautifully unique.
 
 
Variety

We have both short hair breeds from the warmer plains and long hair breeds from the colder hills. Each breed we choose is very different to the usual black and white patch variety that is most common in the UK. Our current stocks include exotica variety in differing shades and colours and hair length, as well as some Tri Coloure hides. Other interesting varieties can be added seasonally so please keep an eye on this site for the latest varieties, or mail us if you have a particular request.
 
 
Process

The hides are cut to a 4mm thickness which under normal circumstances would be difficult to be kept soft and supple. However our 48 part tanning process which cuts no corners and ensures that the skins remain flexible and maintain their natural colour, sheen and lustre.
 
 
Sizes and cutting service
 
All of our hides are cut to their optimum size and vary from between 3.6 to 4.1 square meters each, which equates to approximately 40 to 45 square feet. The typical hide length at the longest point is about 2.5m and typical span is 2.1m at the widest point. If such sizes to not suit your requirements we do have a free cutting service with several hide shaped size templates available to choose from. During such a process the hide is carefully trimmed to keep it’s symmetrical character, what’s more, all of the off cuts are kept for you and can be used to make additional matching accessories of your choice. Please refer to our accessories section for further information. We do not know of any other hide supplier that offers such a service.
 
In the meantime the existing template sizes are as indicated. Should you require a bespoke shape or size we would be happy to oblige. to do

Each costume has been painstakingly translated to watercolours by some of the most talented artists that China can offer, who are most meticulous down to the smallest detail.

All paintings are stamped, signed and dated by the artist. We do not have any intention to mass produce any of the images and will be limiting production of each to preserve their value.