Craquelé: Application of Craquelé Varnish to Leather
A distinctive surface texture found on tanned leathers is known as crackling, or craquelé. To achieve this effect on the leather, a special varnish is applied during the finishing process, which cracks as it dries.
However, this does not damage the leather itself; rather, it simply creates the visual effect of fine crack lines on the surface to make the leather look more valuable and aged.
In the case of aniline leathers, the grain structure of the surface is broken, meaning it is already compromised. Therefore, this leather may only be treated in this manner on areas that are not subject to heavy wear.
Additional sources (accessed March 4, 2019):
- leder-info(dot)de/index(dot)php/Krakelierung
- lederzentrum(dot)de/wiki/index(dot)php/crackling
