Brusque House, the Art of Ageing Leather

With expert hands, Tetsuya Sato gives his clients’ shoes an aged effect and the sense of refinement that comes with it. His passion for treating leather led him to open his own studio, Brusque House, in the Aoyama district of Tokyo.

With white gloves, a shirt, and numerous pots containing different dyes, waxes, and polishes, the art of patina requires rigour, a honed technique, and high-quality equipment. Tetsuya Sato constantly scrapes, bleaches, and dyes leather, from shoes to wallets, and sometimes even car seats.

Rainbow-coloured patina

Accelerating the effect of time on leather requires, paradoxically, long hours of work and training. Thus, before stepping out on his own in 2015, Tetsuya Sato trained in patina at Berluti (the French fashion house, part of the LVMH empire and pioneers of the technique in the 1980s). He then honed his skills with Corthay, master independent bootmaker and legend of the Parisian shoe scene.

In Japan, most clients request grey, brown, or blue finishes that are discreet and work-appropriate. But this doesn’t stop the artisan from letting his creativity run wild. In his workshop and while on his travels, he creates rainbow-coloured pieces in yellow, purple, pink, or green, or, for the most extravagant of clients, multicoloured leather.

More information on Tetsuya Sato’s work is to be found on Brusque House’s website.