Pocket empty, bowl full - this is how the function of this storage bowl can be briefly summarized (French vider: empty, poche: pocket, usually of clothing), which is also known as Gentleman’ s Tray (presumably because the gentleman of yesteryear had no handbag for his small everyday companions). As the name suggests, the bowl preferably holds the contents of a trouser, coat or jacket pocket - small change, keys, phone - and keeps everything within easy reach in the hallway or entrance area, for example. However, it can of course also be used for all other small items that need a designated place when they are not in use, such as on the desk or dining room table, in the kitchen or in the bathroom. With its rectangular format, this Vide-poche is suitable for pens, cosmetics and other items in an elongated format.

Traditionally, such pocket emptiers were made of porcelain. Our Vide-poche manufactures Sonnenleder from supple, vegetable pit-tanned cowhide - no matter how energetically you empty your pockets, the leather ensures that the small items can be deposited without the loud clattering of porcelain (a definite advantage late at night if you don't want anyone to be startled out of their sleep). The sturdy leather, available in the typical reddish shade of pit-tanned leather or dyed black in the barrel, is double-layered and sewn with neatly turned-in edges. Color-matching leather-covered rivets hold the Vide-poche in a shell shape. As is typical of the material, the leather also takes on an individual patina over time, which is particularly noticeable on the natural-colored leather.

Sonnenleder in Bodman-Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance stands for a consistently functional, pure design. The meticulously working company still uses the traditional method of leather production: vegetable pit tanning. Only hides from southern German cattle are used for this. The tanning agents used contain mainly decoctions of bark, roots and fruit. In twelve pits with slightly increasing concentrations of tanning broth, they convert the protein fibers of the cattle hides into leather fibers over a period of six to twelve weeks.
After tanning, the hides are air-dried and greased in a lubrication barrel according to a well-guarded recipe. Undyed, the finished leather has a characteristic, slightly light brown-reddish hue, which also gave the leather the name "red-tanned" and which varies from batch to batch. Use, sun and rain change the color tone, and over time a natural protection forms, the patina, which gives the leather an unmistakable appearance. The leather dyed in the barrel also acquires a shiny patina with use.