German Leather Museum

Sling pumps by Vivienne Westwood, beaded moccasins from North America, silk boots from Empress Sisi or Joschka Fischer's sneakers: the shoe collection in the German Leather Museum alone comprises 10,000 exhibits. It is one of the highlights of the museum, which was founded in 1917 as a universal museum for leather design. Not without reason in Offenbach: the city had already made a name for itself in the 18th century with fine leather goods such as portfolios, cases and caskets. The museum was founded by Hugo Eberhardt, then director of the Technische Lehranstalten, the forerunner of today's Hochschule für Gestaltung. His idea: the new museum should give students the widest possible view of craftsmanship and creativity in leather, globally and across all eras. From Egyptian containers from the 4th millennium BC to samurai armor, gold leather wallpaper and Asian shadow puppets to an impressive collection of handbags.
Which models are still in vogue or could soon be in vogue again - you can speculate about this during a break in the pretty café. The museum as a whole is definitely moving with the times: innovative leather alternatives such as paper, cork, recycled plastics or eucalyptus and pineapple fibers are also part of the exhibition.