Andrea Landa

If you think nothing can surprise you anymore when it comes to leather clothing and accessories - walk into Andrea Landa and reconsider. Here, leather is cut into thin strips and hand-woven into coats, jackets and accessories. What comes out of that process looks less like something you'd find on a rack and more like a sculpture.

This is no surprise once you know the story. Designer Andrea Landa literally grew up surrounded by leather. Her mother ran a leather goods workshop, and Andrea spent her days there handling different hides, watching the craftsmen work and absorbing a smell that, in her own words, became part of her forever. She studied fashion marketing in Barcelona and then fashion design in London, and in 2012 launched her leather goods brand.

Today, all production takes place in the brand's own atelier in the centre of Medellín, where every piece is cut and assembled by hand by craftsmen, some of whom have been working with the Landa family for over thirty years. Leather coats, jackets, skirts, trousers, bags and multi-layered woven pieces - all made from leather tanned without toxic chromium compounds.

The flagship store and atelier are in Medellín's El Poblado neighbourhood - the city's most vibrant and fashionable district, surrounded by galleries, restaurants and design studios. The second shop is in Bogotá's Chicó district - a quiet, leafy and affluent neighbourhood north of the city centre, home to the Colombian capital's best boutiques and restaurants.