The board is built around a rigid plywood base that gives the piece its structure and weight — it lies flat, holds its shape through daily handling, and provides the backing that keeps the leather surface taut and consistent across the full face. The front is faced in Crazy Horse leather: a full-grain hide with a characteristic waxy finish that develops a natural patina through use, darkening at points of contact and lightening where it catches light. In vivid red, the Crazy Horse surface has a depth and variation that smooth leather does not — the colour is not uniform but alive, shifting between tones depending on how the board is held and where the light falls. The reverse of the board is the plywood itself, finished cleanly without additional covering.

The TANDURE wordmark is applied by blind embossing directly into the Crazy Horse leather face — pressed without pigment, so the mark sits in the surface as a recessed impression rather than a printed or foiled element. Crazy Horse leather takes blind embossing with particular clarity: the waxy surface compresses cleanly under the die and holds the impression with defined edges, while the surrounding leather retains its texture. The typeface is a decorative display serif with hand-crafted character — angular details, slightly irregular stroke weights, a quality that reads as drawn rather than set. The mark is present and legible at close range; at distance the board reads as a single vivid red surface.

The top and bottom corners of the spine edge are reinforced with flat strips of dark stained wood, each fixed to the board with a small brass rivet. The corners protect the leather at its most handled points and introduce a material contrast — warm dark timber against the red Crazy Horse face — that breaks the single-colour surface without adding decoration. The brass rivets are small, flush, and aged in finish, consistent with the overall character of the piece. The perimeter of the leather face is finished with a red saddle stitch that traces the full edge and defines the boundary between the leather and the wood beneath. If you are producing menu boards for a venue with a strong colour identity and a preference for material quality over surface print, we can develop a custom design to your specifications. Get in touch to discuss your project.