Hides and skins - Expo Brussels 1958
When you pass from Palace XI into the part of Palace IV reserved for the Leather Industries group, you find yourself in a room where everything that catches your eye magnifies this living natural product.
A frieze runs along the walls, representing herds whose silhouettes are cut out in full multicoloured leather.
Following a logical order of visit, you pass in front of the multiple leather-covered panels, on which are draped marvellous leathers and skins in the most shimmering tones, enhanced by a studied lighting.
Leather articles, intended for multiple industrial uses, are next to each other: belts, sleeves for spinning mills, etc.
Nearby are the display cases containing a wide variety of suitcases and other travel and saddlery items.
Counters open to the eye wind their way through the room and contain a selection of leather goods: sumptuously elegant bags, cases, wallets, belts, gloves, luxury shoes, precious bindings, etc.
The beautiful production of shoes and slippers from Belgium, as well as some beautiful leather clothes, are displayed in fifty exhibition boxes, each of which evokes, through different scenarios, the destination of the objects in them.
The leather gives the interior of choice a cachet of comfort and luxury: the VIP lounge, whose main walls are covered in leather, the desk and its delightful accessories, the armchairs, are proof of this.
The impressive display of the names of professional organisations and technical teaching and scientific research establishments testifies to the concern of the leather industry to be constantly up to date with the latest developments.
At the end of the section, the synthesis of the leather industries is presented: among the basic elements of nature, wood, stones, metal, leather is one of the most beautiful.
The entire presentation of the group, of a particularly high standard, confirms this.
© Guide Officiel Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles 1958 - Desclée & Co