Furniture factory surplus leather, Saida
From upholstery surplus leather to bags
Saida's curtain shop
Furniture surplus leather
New life for upholstery waste
At Lovia, we want to reduce our environmental impact and make bags that last a lifetime. That's why it's important that we share similar values with our partners. One of them is Saidan Verhoomo, a five-woman company from Lahti that does upholstery work in Lahti with the aim of saving as many old pieces of furniture as possible. Upholstery work is done on a wide range of new and old furniture - the main goal is to make the furniture last over time and wear. Responsible thinking is strongly reflected in Saida's business, which is why we also want to recycle surplus material as efficiently as possible. The small pieces of leather left over from Saida's upholstery work brilliantly into Lovia bags.
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: 5
LOCATION: LAHTI, FINLAND
From upholstery surplus leather to bags
How is upholstery material made into designer bags? The renovation of furniture upholstered in leather leaves behind cutting waste, which, due to its small size, cannot be used to upholster other furniture. On the other hand, small pieces of leather are well suited as the material for Lovia bags, so the leather pieces left over from Saidan Verhoomo end up as the material for the bags. This way, we save the environment from the burden, as we can use existing material and not produce new ones for the bags.
The leather used by Saida Verhoomo comes from the Danish supplier, Sorensen. From Lahti, the surplus upholstery leather travels to our designer Outi's desk in Helsinki, where the designs for the trash treasures originate.
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 Saida Verhoomo and snippets of the team's everyday life, just as it appears at the Lahti-based fabric factory.
"I feel that working in our field is already an eco-deed in itself. Even though we also make new furniture and upholstery, the idea is that things are made to last. Everything is done well and with care. When I started, there was a lot of unused material left over from the old masters and pieces of cutting waste were collected. We have tried our best to recycle them to various colleagues, jewelers, seamstresses and now, most recently, Lovia. Sometimes there is a lot of surplus, so it is definitely better to pass it on to those who can still use the material. The well-being of the staff is important to me. For the work to work, the workers have to be in good shape. We switched to a four-day workweek in the fall. You can plan your own working days quite freely and everything can be arranged within certain limits. We also have menstrual leave, because it is terrible to do physical work if your whole body is in severe cramps or your head is in brain fog."
-Saida Blomberg, founder, Saidan Verhoomo
Where could we do better?
We know that reducing environmental impact requires concrete actions, but also continuous self-development. We are proud of the circular economy collaboration we are doing with Saidan Verhoomo, but there is still room for improvement.
Together with Saidan Verhoomo, we are already saving pieces of leather that are too small for furniture upholstery, but there are still small pieces and shreds left over that end up in the trash. In the future, we want to turn the shreds that end up as waste into grit, which serves as a raw material for recycled material. We could use this material again in our bags.
In addition, we plan to try a new collaboration model with Saida, where we send Saida the sizes of the leather pieces we need in advance and they deliver the right size pieces directly to us, without the Lovia team having to travel to Lahti to separately investigate the available options. This way we reduce emissions from transportation and the emissions from the manufacturing of our bags as a whole. Responsibility is a journey where we are not finished, but we constantly want to find new areas for development. Welcome to join us!
Saida's curtain shop
Furniture surplus leather
New life for upholstery waste
At Lovia, we want to reduce our environmental impact and make bags that last a lifetime. That's why it's important that we share similar values with our partners. One of them is Saidan Verhoomo, a five-woman company from Lahti that does upholstery work in Lahti with the aim of saving as many old pieces of furniture as possible. Upholstery work is done on a wide range of new and old furniture - the main goal is to make the furniture last over time and wear. Responsible thinking is strongly reflected in Saida's business, which is why we also want to recycle surplus material as efficiently as possible. The small pieces of leather left over from Saida's upholstery work brilliantly into Lovia bags.
FOUNDED: 2015
EMPLOYEES: 5
LOCATION: LAHTI, FINLAND
Making a bag from surplus upholstery leather
How is upholstery material made into designer bags? The renovation of furniture upholstered in leather leaves behind cutting waste, which, due to its small size, cannot be used to upholster other furniture. On the other hand, small pieces of leather are well suited as the material for Lovia bags, so the leather pieces left over from Saidan Verhoomo end up as the material for the bags. This way, we save the environment from the burden, as we can use existing material and not produce new ones for the bags.
The leather used by Saida Verhoomo comes from the Danish supplier, Sorensen. From Lahti, the surplus upholstery leather travels to our designer Outi's desk in Helsinki, where the designs for the trash treasures originate.
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 Saida Verhoomo and snippets of the team's everyday life, just as it appears at the Lahti-based fabric factory.
"I feel that working in our field is already an eco-deed in itself. Although we also make new furniture and upholstery, the idea is that things are made to last. Everything is done well and with care. When I started, there was a lot of unused material left over from the old masters and pieces of cutting waste were collected. We have tried our best to recycle them to various colleagues, jewelers, seamstresses and now most recently to Lovia. Sometimes there is a lot of surplus, so it is definitely better to pass it on to those who can still use the material.
"The well-being of the staff is important to me. For things to work, the workers have to be in good shape. We switched to a four-day workweek in the fall. You can plan your own working days quite freely and everything can be arranged within certain limits. We also have menstrual leave, because it's horrible to do physical work if your whole body is in severe cramps or your head is in brain fog."
-Saida Blomberg, founder, Saidan Verhoomo
Where could we do better?
We know that reducing environmental impact requires concrete actions, but also continuous self-development. We are proud of the circular economy collaboration we are doing with Saidan Verhoomo, but there is still room for improvement.
Together with Saidan Verhoomo, we are already saving pieces of leather that are too small for furniture upholstery, but there are still small pieces and shreds left over that end up in the trash. In the future, we want to turn the shreds that end up as waste into grit, which serves as a raw material for recycled material. We could use this material again in our bags.
In addition, we plan to try a new collaboration model with Saida, where we send Saida the sizes of the leather pieces we need in advance and they deliver the right size pieces directly to us, without the Lovia team having to travel to Lahti to separately investigate the available options. This way we reduce emissions from transportation and the emissions from the manufacturing of our bags as a whole. Responsibility is a journey where we are not finished, but we constantly want to find new areas for development. Welcome to join us!
discover treasures made from surplus leather
belt bags
shoulder bags
