AlexL's Profile

Shagreen or Galuchat is - as Scott says - the term for a type of Dogfish. Dasyatis Bleekeri is tanned and used throughout Asia and sometimes in luxury brand accessories.

The skins are in fact realatively expensive given the small area that can be used (normally a rectangle in the centre), but certainly the work to prepare them and inlay them is very great too.

I run a small workshop in Bangkok producing shagreen furniture and lighting. Faux shagreen is basically vinyl with a repeating pattern. Anyone who has seen or touched traditionally made shagreen items will see why it has been cherished in Japan and by the great deco masters. Every skin has a subtly different tone in the raw process while vinyl is vinyl. Even tanned skins have a very consistent tone given the chromium treatment that prepares them.

Some of the most beautiful examples keep the brownish film on the surface as a natural tone. i can send you a picture if you are interested in this.