Heard that this is another must-see, or rather, must-buy in Firenze! Dario brought us to a "Leonardo Leather Works" for an introduction on how to differentiate the difference between genuine leather & the fake. In fact, noticed that many shops has the name "Leonardo" on them. Wonder if they were all related.
The lady in the shop told us that many sellers liked to demonstrate that they r selling real leather by using fire. But in actual fact, leather can get burnt, and showed us a burnt leather jacket. The reason why it didn't burn during the demo was fairly simple. If u just place the lighter near ur skin for a short period of time, or run over it quickly, it wouldn't burn too. Leather afterall is skin, and skin CAN get burnt. Just that this skin of the animal appeared tougher. Smell is just another trick. What we smelled most of the time, is actually the chemicals to process leather! She then concluded that leather don't come cheap. If there's something very cheap, it's probably not genuine leather. Hmm ...
Initially, wanted to get some wallets, belts, bags, etc. But somehow, what being displayed look like what I saw in the "parsa malam" (Night market) in Bishan, but 4x the price. The workmanship seemed better though. Jo suggested we take a look at the flea market before deciding.
Unfortunately, most of the stuff sold at the flea market looks a lower quality, and 2X the price of Bishan's "Pasar Malam". Hence, I didn't get anything I like in the end. XJ bought a "brandless" leather bag at one of the shops. The bookmark HJ wanted couldn't be found at the flea market. Unfortunately the Leonardo was closed by the time we went back.