Find products

Use our product finder to search for products and materials

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive news about events and exhibitions, innovation and materials on the latest building product innovations, case studies and more.
I have read and agree to the terms and conditions of usage and The Building Centre's Privacy Policy.

Buxkin: recycled material crafted from leather offcuts from the shoe industry

23 Nov 2018
By Anna Marks, Content Editor
News

Buxkin is crafted from a combination of recycled materials including leather offcuts from the shoe industry and felt offcuts from the automotive industry. The material has high acoustic performance and is suited for interior wall and floor coverings. 

 

The manufacturing of Buxkin begins with the granulation of leather and felt offcuts. In the case of recycled leather, rest pieces from the shoe-making industry are ground and mixed with water, latex, coloured pigments and other additives. Once the water is pressed out, a flat material emerges as a roll. This flat material can be formatted into three variants of Buxkin product–ribbed, stripes and flat. The base material is corrugated to create the ribbed product, cut into small strips for the stripes product, and left flat, coated or perforated to create the flat surface finish.

 

A number of backing materials are offered for these products, depending on their application–felt, leather, paper, jute–and both upper and lower (backing) layers can be perforated for desired aesthetic or acoustic behaviour. While the production of the ribbed sheets is an industrial and fast moving process, the stripes sheets are handmade and have a longer lead time. All materials from the Buxkin collection are delivered on rolls and their sizes can be customized.

 

The stripes collection from Buxkin also offers a custom design tool–Stripesdesigner.com–where designers and users can create their own combinations of colour and material (flame-retarding wool felt and/or recycled leather) to create their own acoustic hanging, wall panel or carpet.

 

Follow a thread