Cow stomachs, an everyday by-product of the meat industry, gets a luxurious afterlife, thanks to the innovative handling of undervalued organic materials. Ventri shows how something that is considered waste in many countries is given a new and much higher value through the action of design.

After slaughter, the value of a cow stomach is nil. In the Netherlands, the best-case scenario for its use is in dog food. In Italy and other countries, such animal “waste” products can end up on people’s plates, often only because they are low-priced.

Each of the cow’s four stomachs has different properties, shaped by their function. Some are like winding landscapes, others are almost reptilian. In a labour intensive process, designer Billie van Katwijk transforms their raw, natural aesthetic in a range of leathers with their own look and feel, for the use in luxurious design.