Babiche is a style of interwoven leather or gut, [traditionally used in the making of snowshoes](http://canadiandesignresource.ca/?p=227). The First Nations people of eastern Canada passed on the technique to French settlers who incorporated it into their chair designs. Popularized in the 1600’s, the babiche chair has become a familiar icon of traditional Quebec furniture design. For their Awadare collection, Montréal/Milan design collective [Samare](http://www.samare.ca) have revisited this traditional fusion. Working with local welders and Huron weavers, Samare have juxtaposed the charming, hand-worked quality of babiche against rigid metal structures. The intent is a Canadian language for the international market. Appropriately, the collection, which just launched at [Commissaires](http://www.commissairesonline.com/) will debut internationally at Salone Satellite in Milan.