Dānxīn 丹心 (Cinnabar Heart)

This is the quiet one. The shell on the outside is marbled red cordovan from Rocado in Ponte a Egola, Tuscany. Six months in the vegetable tanning pits, then the surface is shaved by hand to expose the vein and fibre structure of the shell underneath. The piece we cut Dānxīn from has softer veining than the others. The marbling is more diffuse, the colour sits a little deeper, and the surface is the calmest of the four. If Zhūquè is the loud one, this is the one that finishes the room.

The collar is cut to a sighthound profile. Wide through the throat panel where it sits across the front of the neck, narrowing toward the buckle and the tip. Hounds, whippets, greyhounds, salukis and the rest of the long-headed breeds have necks that are wider than their skulls, which means a standard collar slips straight off over the ears. The sighthound shape solves it. The wider front spreads the load across more surface area, which matters on dogs that pull on a sprint, and the taper keeps the leather flat and clean against a long thin neck.

The lining and keeper are made from Bisanzio Oro by Conceria Puccini Attilio in Santa Croce sull'Arno. Full-grain vegetable-tanned cowhide, drum-dyed, oil-fattened, then hand-stained with an aniline metallic finish. It is not real gold leaf. The cloudy, slightly rustic look is the finisher's work, applied by hand piece by piece, which is why no two panels match. The full inside of the strap is lined with it, and on this collar the lining shows. When the dog turns its head, the gold flashes out from underneath the red across the whole length of the throat panel.

The buckle is a stirrup style in 24K gold PVD over 316L stainless steel, made by Hility. PVD plating runs at 800–4,000 HV hardness compared to 100–200 HV on standard electroplated brass, so the finish won't rub off the high points the way it does on cheaper hardware. A single gold screw rivet sits at the buckle end where the strap turns back on itself. The keeper is wrapped in matching Bisanzio Oro and stitched in red.

Stitching is hand saddle stitched with two needles using Lajin Twist gold metallic thread on the body and red on the keeper. Saddle stitching means if one length of thread breaks, the next stitch still locks. It is the same construction Hermès uses on their leather goods, and it is the reason this collar will outlast every machine-stitched collar your dog will ever wear.

Edges are burnished in ten stages using Tokonole, a Japanese water-based burnishing gum made from natural paste, resin, wax and silicon. Each pass slicks the fibres down until the edge takes a wet, glassy shine.