50 Shades of Leather: Elmo

The Swiss expressionist painter, designer and colour theorist Johannes Itten once said: “Colour is life, for a world without colour seems dead.” Thanks to Swedish premium leather manufacturer Elmo, colour is helping to revivify interior environments across the globe that have been dominated for decades by black, brown and beige leather upholstery.

As a leading supplier to the architecture and design communities, Elmo seeks to offer its clients the widest possible range of colours and has developed more than 300 different hues for its aniline, semi-aniline and technical leathers. “We want designers to perceive us as a one-stop-shop where they can find any colour they need for any purpose,” says the company’s director of sales and marketing, Jimmy Ahlgren. “We adapt fully not just to residential demands but also the demands of the contract market, where colours are more influenced by fashion.”

Elmo was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in the Swedish town of Svenljunga, where it produces leather predominantly for the furniture, transport and automotive industries. Having identified a demand amongst its architectural clients for a comprehensive colour palette, the company initiated a collaboration with British textile and colour consultant, Georgina Wright, who advises on all of Elmo’s leather colours. “I work with Elmo on a dialogue about their processes, what we want to bring to the market and how that sits within their concept of who they are and where they want to be,” Wright explains. “As a designer, I’m able to bring a fresh perspective to the process.”

Wright’s input has helped Elmo establish itself as a trendsetter within the industry and ensures its collection is suited to use in a variety of environments. The introduction last year of subtle pastel shades to the durable semi-aniline Elmosoft collection, for example, offers pale hues that complement the bolder colours already available. “We try to provide a palette so people can make choices that combine really well,” says the designer. “Things happen fast in the interiors industry and colour is becoming increasingly important as designers look to make a unique statement.”

According to Wright, collaborating with Elmo on new hues represents an opportunity to work with colour in a very pure way. She physically mixes every colour using pigments and paints them onto surfaces before translating them into dyes. “The way I work with the colours is very intense,” explains Wright. “You almost need to feel and hear the colour as well as seeing it.” The resulting hues are applied to Elmo’s natural and unadulterated leathers using a complex and unpredictable dyeing process that requires great care to ensure the end result matches the source colour.

The broad range of leather colours supplied by Elmo is particularly attractive to the contract furniture market, where larger spaces enable colour to be applied in more nuanced ways. To make the process of choosing colours more straightforward for its clients, the firm has developed a mobile app that helps them to easily find and order samples. “Designers are working more internationally today and need a simple way to order swatches on the move,” Ahlgren points out. The app also provides all relevant information about the technical properties and fire certification of the products. Designers simply select the colours they like and receive the samples two days later.

“I think it’s great for architects and specifiers to have something very accessible that they can use if they’re out on a job discussing things with a client,” adds Wright. Thanks to her insight, Elmo’s exacting production standards and the latest mobile technology, there is now no reason for architects and designers around the world to be without the perfect leather colour for any project.

© Architonic