Uniqka is an Istanbul-based design brand that offers handmade and sustainable
home decorations. Collaborating with designers around the world, Uniqka craft such as holders, trays, lamps, mirrors, and accessories that are simple yet impactful and inspiring for living spaces. Uniqka’s prominent values are timeless design with simplicity, less consumption with longevity, and refined craftsmanship with finesse. Uniqka’s passion is to create authentic and sophisticated products that increase the quality of life. It combines the oldest materials with traditional handcrafting and up-to-date techniques to makes products for modern living that are conscious and durable, using responsible resources with a minimal energy footprint. By upcycling leather, it creates design pieces that will not only give a sense of warmth and intimacy to the surroundings, but also be used for years, generations, and even centuries. The simplicity allows each product to fit into various spaces for a range of purposes and bring character to the room even when not in use.
Uniqka leather: an example of upcycling
Uniqka designs focus on the leather, natural, durable, and repairable, a by-product of the food industry. Uniq's production model is a remarkable example of upcycling: instead of ending up in landfills, this unique and versatile material turns into design objects, which prevents about 10 million tonnes of waste from going to landfills annually. Uniqka sources their leather from selected suppliers that are controlled and verified. Uniqka uses ethically produced, vegetable-tanned leather, the most traditional and ethical method of tanning. Plant extracts, called vegetable tannins are used to turn the hides into leather. Its key feature is the absence of potentially harmful and irritating chemical components while maintaining the original raw material's maximum durability and organic look. Vegetable-tanned leather stands the test of time, developing a unique texture and a strong character. Only around 10% of the leather on the market today is vegetable-tanned. As the most esteemed type of leather, it is eco-friendly and has an organic feel and higher durability. In contrast, nearly 80% of all leather produced worldwide is produced by chrome-tanning, a relatively contemporary method, dating back to industrial revolution. It is quicker than vegetable-tanning; however, the usage of heavy metal minerals frequently causes more environmental harm.
