De Sede DS-47 Two-Seater Sofa in Bull Neck Leather

The DS-47 earned its nickname 'the Bull' for good reason. Upholstered in five-millimetre-thick neck leather sourced from the strongest part of the buffalo hide, this two-seater sofa from 1976 has a muscular, almost animal presence that no other piece of furniture quite matches.

The leather is the story here. At five millimetres thick, it behaves more like a living skin than conventional upholstery. It creases into deep, sculptural folds that echo the powerful musculature of the bull's neck from which it takes its name. The slightly curved silhouette adds to this animal quality — an arched back, a low-slung stance, a sense of contained power. The surface carries a rich, warm patina developed over nearly fifty years, with the natural variations in tone and texture that only genuine thick hide can produce.

This DS-47 is in good vintage condition. The leather shows honest signs of age including some surface staining — marks that add character to a piece designed to develop and change over time. The structure is solid, the proportions remain true, and the sofa sits as it should at 143 centimetres wide and 72 centimetres at the backrest.

De Sede introduced the DS-47 in 1976, the same year they launched their revolutionary neck leather programme. The model became the definitive expression of what this extraordinary material could achieve in furniture — a sofa where the hide itself was both the structural surface and the aesthetic statement. Produced in Klingnau, Switzerland, each DS-47 required significantly more material and handwork than conventional upholstered furniture.

The DS-47 does not blend in. It anchors a room with the confidence of a piece that knows exactly what it is — a celebration of material, craft, and the beauty of leather that only gets better with age.