Orange Moroccan Leather Pouf

Bright orange hide, stitched in the same colour, with the star pressed into the top rather than worked over it. Orange is the colour most people picture when they picture a Moroccan pouf, and it is the one that sits most naturally beside ikat and kilim.

Product details

• Product type: Moroccan leather pouf, supplied flat and unstuffed
• Material: 100% cowhide leather, hand-stitched in Morocco
• Size: about 50 cm across and 35 cm high (20 × 14 in) — a couple of centimetres either way, because each is cut from a hide
• Colour: bright orange
• Stitching: tone-on-tone orange, with the star embossed into the top face
• Filling: not included — zip underneath, fill at home (see below)
• New, made in the traditional way; not an antique
• Care: wipe with a damp cloth and use a leather conditioner now and then; keep it away from radiators and direct sun, which dry and fade the hide

It arrives flat — you fill it at home

The pouf is posted unstuffed and folded into a small parcel, which is why the postage on one is no more than on a cushion. Open the zip underneath and fill it yourself: old clothes and towels are the traditional filling and still the best, a beanbag insert is the tidy modern answer, and wool or foam offcuts sit somewhere between. Pack it much firmer than feels right — a pouf that is loosely filled will slump and never recover its shape. Expect to need more than you think.

Where it goes

Against tan leather, bare brick or a dark green sofa. It also does the job of a colour accent in a room that is otherwise all neutrals. See the other Moroccan leather poufs, or the ikat cushions and suzani cushions that sit well beside them.

How it is made, and where it comes from

This is the one thing in the shop that does not come from Uzbekistan. We keep it because it belongs in the same rooms. Each pouf is cut from cowhide in Morocco, the panels stitched together by hand — the whipstitch you can see running along every seam is done with a needle, not a machine — and the star on the top face is worked into the leather before assembly. They are made in the traditional way, but they are new: we do not sell them as antiques.

Because each one is cut from a hide, the size varies by a couple of centimetres and no two take the dye identically. That is the nature of the material rather than a fault.

Ships flat from Bukhara within 24 hours by Uzbekiston Pochtasi tracked airmail: USA 9–18 working days, Europe and the UK 8–16, elsewhere 10–20.