A showcase of prototypes made from cane toad leather - including handbags, gloves, a wallet, and even a toad doorstop - is part of Melbourne Design Week, starting on Thursday.
Cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935, and with no known predators, there are now reportedly more than 200 million of the noxious critters in Australia.
The Toad Takeover exhibition at Collingwood's Le Space aims to show what's possible with leather made from their skins, in an attempt to find a design solution to an ecological disaster.
There is currently no Australian production of cane toad leather, according to Lia Tabrah, who founded fashion brand Vermin The Label in 2019.
Tabrah also started Vermin Tannery in Cairns in 2025 with her business partner, Torres Strait Islander and entrepreneur Perina Drummond, and they expect to be producing toad leather for market by 2027.
Turning toad skins into luxury items comes with about as many challenges as there are toads - for a start, the hides are very small, so making even a wallet takes about 15 of them.
The toads, which excrete a frothy poison from their skin, first have to be caught (Tabrah recommends a pair of tongs) and humanely killed (fridge then freezer works best).
Tabrah has worked with the University of the Sunshine Coast on a Queensland government-funded research program delivered through CSIRO, to develop a chemical-free toad tanning process.
"How to make toad leather" is not something you can google, she says, and the project has been a breakthrough, demonstrating that the skins can be made into a luxury-grade material that meets international fashion standards, without using toxic chemicals.
But there's yet another issue - once caught, the toads can't be transported anywhere for tanning due to biosecurity laws, so they have to be processed on site.
For Vermin Tannery it's an opportunity to work with Indigenous communities affected by the animals - Tabrah imagines teams of travelling toad-busters processing the animals on country.
"We'll be able to offer limited edition ranges of cane toad leather from different regions, from the Torres Strait, to Arnhem Land in the NT, and Fitzroy Crossing in WA," she said.
In the meantime, the Design Week showcase displays accessories by Simone Agius of simétrie, toad-upholstered furniture by designer Kirk Ireland, and Tabrah's own toad jewellery.
It's part of a program of more than 400 events for Australia's largest design festival, which is in its tenth year.
Melbourne Design Week runs from Thursday until May 24.
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