Neussargues in Pinatelle (France) (AFP)

An air of Spain in a small corner of Cantal: with his singing accent, Jorge Soler is inexhaustible on the tanning of the ostrich skin, a precise and delicate know-how that he is the only one to master in France.

Its "showroom", located in the former nursery school of Neussargues-en-Pinatelle (Cantal), a village of 1,800 inhabitants, is as unusual as the character.

When he pushes the door, the visitor falls face to face with an imposing stuffed bull that sits in the middle of a room where the skins of cattle alongside the deer heads and other horned animals exposed to the walls.

Because Jorge Soler, arrived from Barcelona in 2008, is also a taxidermist.

First installed in Nîmes (Gard) this enthusiast of bullfights finally joined Neussargues-in-Pinatelle where he acquires a workshop next to the slaughterhouses of the village. He continued his taxidermy and tannery activities.

Then the adventure begins in 2017 when an ostrich farmer offers him to try to tanning this highly sought-after leather that luxury houses often bring from South Africa, the world's leading producer of these birds.

For a year, he "screwed up" several skins, "a disaster," he recalls. But he persevered to achieve a flawless product, without a hitch.

The warm 50-year-old with a goatee of salt and pepper proudly shows a door where are carefully arranged several ostrich skins, shiny and pearly.

About one meter apart, these luxurious leather squares in various colors are used for small leather goods or watchbands. They can be decorated "to measure" affirms the Barcelonese.

- Dyeing "without metal" -

"The ostrich skin is a very delicate leather and at the same time very resistant.The most complicated is to get to make a fleshing (remove the flesh) manual, artisanal, without breaking the pins - the pearl of the skin as it is called - which support the feather, "he says.

These pimples give its pearled appearance to the skin, characteristic of ostrich leather.

"The risk is to make holes, the skin is unsaleable" according to him.

In the skinning room, open to the four winds - up to -7 degrees in winter - and impregnated with a stench, the first step is to rid the skin of its thick layer of fat.

With a knife, Jorge Soler -boots and large white apron- skilfully cut pieces of flesh to separate them from the skin, stretched out in front of him on a wooden instrument he made himself, from a trunk of sanded shaft, attached to a metal support.

Then the fullers, large wooden casks swivel like mills to tan the skins.

Checking the pH, dyeing, regular monitoring: the actual tanning represents "between eight to ten hours of work, we get up in the morning, the evening and sometimes the night" tells Olivier Tible, one of the three employees of the "House Soler ".

The powder of the dyes is guaranteed "without metal": no chromium, no aluminum. And the small company has embarked on the construction of a "zero toxic waste" treatment plant, which should be operational by 2020.

"From raw salted skin to finished product, it takes about a month and a half, two months of work," assures Mr. Soler.

Now, a dozen breeders wanting to promote short circuits call on him.

But he aims to sell his finished skins directly to leather goods, highlighting the "made in France", or even produce itself small leather goods. "We have the capacity to manufacture 2,500 to 3,000 skins a year," he says.

© 2019 AFP