Furniture factory surplus leather, Isku
A new life for Isku's cutting waste
strike group
Furniture surplus leather
Through cooperation, waste can be put to good use.
Isku is one of our partners with whom we give sofa leather a new life. Growing from a small workshop to a modern factory, Isku has been manufacturing furniture in its hometown of Lahti since 1928. Responsibility is evident in everything Isku does, from raw materials to design and production to finished furniture. A new use for waste began to emerge when the upholstery waste from Isku sofas was put to good use. Previously, only small amounts of surplus leather had been used, but most of the good quality material still ended up in waste. Now, the surplus material from Isku leather sofas is collected and transformed into Lovia bags.
FOUNDED: 1928
EMPLOYEES: 750
LOCATION: LAHTI, FINLAND
How are durable bags made from sofa leather?
You may be wondering how sofa leather and bags are connected. We want to openly reveal the backgrounds of the materials we use, so that you can get a true understanding of the origin of the bags and how it works in practice. The production of sofas leaves behind cutting waste, which is difficult to utilize due to its small size. However, they are perfect as the material for Lovia's unique bags. The designs of our bags are designed with the materials in mind, so that even the smallest pieces can be used. This way, we do not burden nature, but give an existing material a new purpose. The leather used in furniture is designed to withstand heavy wear, so it is a great feature for bags designed to last!
But where does the leather originally come from for the Isku factory? Isku uses mostly cowhide in its sofas, which is supplied to Isku by partners in the EU and New Zealand. The material is tanned into leather in Galzignano, Italy. Tanning is a process of leather processing that aims to make the leather durable, pliable and well-preserved. After the furniture has been upholstered at Isku’s factory in Lahti, the excess leather pieces are collected and sent to us in Helsinki, where they are sorted and cleaned for further use. Next, the cutting waste ends up on our designer Outi’s desk, where the leather pieces are transformed into sketches for new bags.
Greetings from the Lahti factory
We want to give our partners a chance to have their voices heard, because without them the idea of utilizing waste material would just remain, well, an idea. Here are some greetings from Isku and snippets from the team's everyday life, just as it appears at the factory in Lahti.
"We always strive to find a new life for all our by-products. We want to recycle surplus leather as material and we are pleased to collaborate with Lovia. In the hands of a responsible partner, surplus leather gets a new life in the form of bags."
-Kaisa Vuori, Sustainability Director, Isku
We do a lot of good, but we are not perfect.
Our collaboration with Isku reduces the environmental burden compared to producing bags from leather made exclusively for them. However, there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to responsibility and developing the collaboration further. We share a vision with Isku that even the smallest surplus scraps can be given a new life. We receive as many pieces of leather of different sizes and colors from Isku for further use as possible, but from sofa production there are still small pieces and scraps of leather that we cannot utilize. In the future, we want to turn the scraps into grit, which will serve as a raw material for recycled material. We could use this material again in the production of our new bags.
In addition, we are currently experimenting with a new collaboration model with Isku, where we provide Isku with the sizes of leather pieces we need and Isku directly delivers the appropriate size pieces to us, without the Lovia team having to travel to Lahti to separately investigate the available options. This way, we reduce emissions caused by transportation and of course, save our team members' time, which can then focus on, for example, coming up with ideas for the next trash creation.
strike group
Furniture surplus leather
Through cooperation, waste can be put to good use.
Isku is one of our partners with whom we give sofa leather a new life. Growing from a small workshop to a modern factory, Isku has been manufacturing furniture in its hometown of Lahti since 1928. Responsibility is evident in everything Isku does, from raw materials to design and production to finished furniture. A new use for waste began to emerge when the upholstery waste from Isku sofas was put to good use. Previously, only small amounts of surplus leather had been used, but most of the good quality material still ended up in waste. Now, the surplus material from Isku leather sofas is collected and transformed into Lovia bags.
FOUNDED: 1928
EMPLOYEES: 750
LOCATION: LAHTI, FINLAND
How are durable bags made from sofa leather?
You may be wondering how sofa leather and bags are connected. We want to openly reveal the backgrounds of the materials we use, so that you can get a true understanding of the origin of the bags and how it works in practice. The production of sofas leaves behind cutting waste, which is difficult to utilize due to its small size. However, they are perfect as the material for Lovia's unique bags. The designs of our bags are designed with the materials in mind, so that even the smallest pieces can be used. This way, we do not burden nature, but give an existing material a new purpose. The leather used in furniture is designed to withstand heavy wear, so it is a great feature for bags designed to last!
But where does the leather originally come from for the Isku factory? Isku uses mostly cowhide in its sofas, which is supplied to Isku by partners in the EU and New Zealand. The material is tanned into leather in Galzignano, Italy. Tanning is a process of leather processing that aims to make the leather durable, pliable and well-preserved. After the furniture has been upholstered at Isku’s factory in Lahti, the excess leather pieces are collected and sent to us in Helsinki, where they are sorted and cleaned for further use. Next, the cutting waste ends up on our designer Outi’s desk, where the leather pieces are transformed into sketches for new bags.
Greetings from the Lahti factory
We want to give our partners a chance to have their voices heard, because without them the idea of utilizing waste material would just remain, well, an idea. Here are some greetings from Isku and snippets from the team's everyday life, just as it appears at the factory in Lahti.
"We always strive to find a new life for all our by-products. We want to recycle surplus leather as material and we are pleased to collaborate with Lovia. In the hands of a responsible partner, surplus leather gets a new life in the form of bags."
-Kaisa Vuori, Sustainability Director, Isku
We do a lot of good, but we are not perfect.
Our collaboration with Isku reduces the environmental burden compared to producing bags from leather made exclusively for them. However, there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to responsibility and developing the collaboration further. We share a vision with Isku that even the smallest surplus scraps can be given a new life. We receive as many pieces of leather of different sizes and colors from Isku for further use as possible, but from sofa production there are still small pieces and scraps of leather that we cannot utilize. In the future, we want to turn the scraps into grit, which will serve as a raw material for recycled material. We could use this material again in the production of our new bags.
In addition, we are currently experimenting with a new collaboration model with Isku, where we provide Isku with the sizes of leather pieces we need and Isku directly delivers the appropriate size pieces to us, without the Lovia team having to travel to Lahti to separately investigate the available options. This way, we reduce emissions caused by transportation and of course, save our team members' time, which can then focus on, for example, coming up with ideas for the next trash creation.
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