Daniele Basta designed the Pod Foglie as a contradiction in scale - a case small enough to close in your fist, carrying more hand-forged silver than most people wear around their neck. The 925 sterling silver hardware is cast using the lost-wax method in Basta's Empoli workshop, where each wax mold is destroyed during casting, making every silver element a one-time object. The "Foglie" - Italian for leaves - refers to the silver forms that wrap the case's exterior, each with the irregular edges and oxidized depth of something shaped by hand rather than stamped by machine.
The body is bull leather, unlined, with a hard hand feel that resists the soft collapse of chrome-tanned alternatives. This is vegetable-tanned hide at its most deliberate: stiff, dense, carrying the faint scent of bark and resin from the tanning process. The black surface is matte and even, but will develop handling marks and a subtle sheen at friction points - where your thumb opens the case, where the case presses against keys or coins in a pocket. The silver will oxidize at its own pace, darkening in the recesses of each leaf form while the raised surfaces stay brighter from contact.