Ron Simkins, CEO of SIF Technology, has found a way to add plastic to leather without minimizing the appeal and longevity of the material. His patented Smart Film process creates digital leather. Originally developed for Nike, the digitized leather allows you to print any design or photograph on leather: “If you can come up with it, you can have it,” Simkins explains. The printing technique does not reduce the leather’s quality: it will not crack, peel, or wear.

Pantone chair. Manufactured by SIF Technology.

Smart Film ushers in “the dawning of a new era in the design and beautification of leather.” At #NeoCon09, SIF Technology is exhibiting a chair that’s upholstered in the Pantone color chart—something the company should market, given how much attention the chair is receiving (every graphic designer wants one for the office). Although the digital leather company does not manufacture furniture, this Pantone chair illustrates the creative applications of their product. More sedate samples such as fleur-de-lis prints in scarlet and black were also on display.