​With the help of ECCO Leather, Iceland-based and Israeli-born artist Sruli Recht has created ‘Apparition’, a semi-transparent leather. Named for its spectral qualities and almost ghostlike appearance, the new leather has been used to create an eerie, futuristic collection of clothing and shoes.

Translucent leather has been done before with goat and sheep hides, though its texture and nature was rigid, limiting its commercial viability. Recht’s version, made from cow-hide, is flexible enough to create a wide variety of waterproof and long-lasting garments. Through years of research, the goal for Recht and his team was always to create the ‘Holy Grail’ of leather – a futuristic material that maintained the classic properties of regular leather.

“The process after creating a new material, a new class of leather even, is to develop it into objects and show what it can do,and then present it as a narrative: how it moves, how it flows, how it bends, how it feels,” says Recht.

Learn more about Apparition leather here, and check out Recht’s official site here.​​