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Fish Skin as Fashion – from Indigenous Knowledge to the Runway

Accomplished designer and Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Research Associate, Elisa Palomino-Perez has worked with the likes of Christian Dior, John Galliano, and Moschino over a 30 year career. And she has long been fascinated by fish leather. From the Ainu of Hokkaido Island in Japan to the Inuit of Alaska, Hezhen of Northeast China, Sami of Sweden, Nanai of Siberia, and more—tanned fish skin has been a staple in Indigenous communities’ traditional craftwork across the world. In order to use it for leatherworking, a fish skin must be scraped, softened, and treated with tanning agents to transform it into a durable leather. All the skins this designer uses would otherwise be simply food waste. Through her ongoing exploration of the material, Palomino-Perez has studied with a variety of artists and practitioners to realize a collection of pieces aimed at promoting sustainability in the fashion industry.

Her work is on display at Smithsonian’s “FUTURES,” the National Mall’s festival-exhibit hybrid. Open through July 6, 2022, FUTURES and its 32,000 square feet of interdisciplinary works imagines glimpses into the possible futures of humanity.

Tags: Art
A clutch bag made from fish skin and decorated with blue floral patterns.
Preview A man, surrounded by fish skins hanging to dry, kneels before a large pit as he demonstrates the tanning process.
Preview A 3D rendering of a man wearing a blue and white fish skin robe, standing on a boat in the ocean.
Preview A blue, silver, and black fish skin robe displayed hanging from a rod. The robe is created from multiple fish skin sewn together and dyed with indigo.
Preview A pair of silver colored sneakers with white shoelaces, made from fish skin and dyed with blue floral patterns.
Preview A series of six images depicting the Kakishibu dyeing process. The top two images show slices of persimmons, the middle two show the brown shades of juice distilled from the fruit, and the bottom two show a swatch of fish skin being dyed brown with the juice.
Preview A brown fish skin bag with stitched, organic designs.
Preview A clutch bag made from fish skin that is folded into ruffle patterns.
Preview A clutch bag made from fish leather with orange, white, and pink chrysanthemum designs.
Preview A bright red clutch bag made from fish leather and patterned with shimmering gold koi fish imagery.
Preview A brown clutch bag made from fish skin with a beige flower in the center, patterned with wood grain.
Preview A clutch bag made from fish skin, decorated with a large flower created with collaged shapes cut from fish leather.
Preview A clutch bag made from fish skin with a detailed design of a landscape.
A clutch bag made from fish skin and decorated with blue floral patterns.

Indigo Katazome Dyed Fish Leather Clutch

Credit: Designed by Elisa Palomino-Perez, assembled by Jay Zaccheus

To create the brilliant blue patterns of this salmon skin clutch, Palomino-Perez worked with traditional indigo dyeing master Takayuki Ishii of Japan using the Katazome technique.

This technique utilizes a rice-flour resist paste typically applied through a stencil (or katagami), using a brush or palette knife. The area of the fabric that’s permeated by the paste then resists the natural indigo dye, creating intricate designs such as the floral pattern pictured.

Once the fish leather was processed and dyed, the bag was handmade by collaborator Jay Zaccheus, a leather artist based in Fiesole, Italy.

A man, surrounded by fish skins hanging to dry, kneels before a large pit as he demonstrates the tanning process.

Ainu Fish Skin Tanning Workshop

Credit: Image courtesy of Elisa Palomino-Perez

To create each of the pieces in her dynamic collection, Palomino-Perez works with a rich variety of artisans. “I come from a place of being a textile practitioner,” she explained. “I hadn’t known how to tan a skin before I began this.”

Pictured here is a 2018 fish skin tanning workshop attended by Palomino-Perez and taught by Shigehiro Takano, who has dedicated his life to the preservation of Ainu culture and mastered more than 200 traditional Ainu crafting techniques.

In this workshop, Takano shared his knowledge of making the Ainu Cep Keri, or salmon skin boot.

A 3D rendering of a man wearing a blue and white fish skin robe, standing on a boat in the ocean.

Imagining a Different Past

Credit: 3D render by Elisa Palomino-Perez and Ana Cordoba Crespo

An interdisciplinary designer, Palomino-Perez’s research also enters the digital realm. Focusing on how traditional craftsmanship methods can merge with new technologies, she collaborated with her former student Ana Cordoba Crespo on this speculative piece.

Using the 3D modeling software Blender and fashion designing software CLO3D by Crespo, this project imagines a timeline in which the Meiji era saw more of a collaboration and exchange between the Japanese and indigenous Ainu, than the colonial relationship that occurred. Here Palomino-Perez and Crespo wonder: what if Japanese traditions like indigo Katazome dyeing had blended with the Ainu traditions of crafting fish skin garments?

This 3D composition imagines what one such robe could look like.

A blue, silver, and black fish skin robe displayed hanging from a rod. The robe is created from multiple fish skin sewn together and dyed with indigo.

Future Art from Past Collections

Credit: Elisa Palomino-Perez, in collaboration seamstress Vanna Bellini and Indigo master Takayuki Ishii.

During a Fulbright scholarship with the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in 2019, Palomino-Perez developed the project “Indigenous Arctic Fish Skin clothing: Cultural and Ecological Impacts” — of this experience she says, “I was able to dive deep into the NMNH collection and access Arctic and Sub-Arctic artifacts that have deeply influenced my artistic practice.”

Among the collections at the museum was a traditional Ainu robe unlike others of its kind—it was produced with the cotton fabric typical of Japanese kimono and printed with the indigo Katazome technique. That artifact inspired this piece—a replica Ainu fish skin robe, made from the traditional indigenous material, but printed with the aforementioned Japanese technique.

In other words, Palomino-Perez brought her and Crespo’s 3D modeling project to life. This robe was made in collaboration with Haute Couture seamstress Vanna Bellini and Indigo master Takayuki Ishii.

A pair of silver colored sneakers with white shoelaces, made from fish skin and dyed with blue floral patterns.

Fish Leather Sneakers

Credit: Shoes designed and created by Cristina Mirri with fish skin dyed by Takayuki Ishii.

In this pair of shoes, the indigo Katazome dye technique strikes again, and if there’s one thing the designer aims to highlight with them, it’s the sustainability of the scaly material.

“Thinking about the ecology of the material, where it’s sourced and how it will biodegrade, is important to me as a designer.” she said. “We need to diversify what we use.” The skin comes from sustainable fisheries, sourced from the eco-friendly tannery Nordic Fish Leather in Iceland. What would otherwise be food waste is processed in traditional Nordic methods and repurposed for this experiment in trendy everyday wear.

Designed and created by accessory designer Cristina Mirri at Calzaturificio Tarcio of Bologna, this collaboration uses materials and manufacturing methods with a minimal footprint—from the fish skin naturally dyed by Takayuki Ishii, right down to the 60 percent recycled EVA polymer soles.

A series of six images depicting the Kakishibu dyeing process. The top two images show slices of persimmons, the middle two show the brown shades of juice distilled from the fruit, and the bottom two show a swatch of fish skin being dyed brown with the juice.

Kakishibu Dyed Fish Leather

Credit: Image courtesy of Elisa Palomino-Perez

Indigo isn’t the only color that takes to fish leather. Here, fish leather is dyed with artist Harukaa Takei using the traditional Japanese method known as Kakishibu. To yield the earthy brown tones characteristic of Kakishibu the material is soaked in the fermented juice of un-ripened persimmons, which is packed with tannins, and allowed to oxidize. Varying durations of air and sunlight exposure make for different vivid hues.

A brown fish skin bag with stitched, organic designs.

Aleut Fish Skin Bag

Credit: Image courtesy of Arctic Studies Center

Research is a cornerstone of Palomino-Perez’s work. Throughout her work with the Arctic Studies Center and Smithsonian Anthropologist Stephen Loring, she studied objects from Smithsonian collections. Items such as this fish skin bag of the Alaskan Aleut people informed the development of her own pieces.

A clutch bag made from fish skin that is folded into ruffle patterns.

Origami Fish Leather Clutch

Credit: Designed by Elisa Palomino-Perez, with Florence based artist Ester Cellucci, assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

Fish leather is a versatile medium. For this clutch, Palomino-Perez collaborated with Florence based artist Ester Cellucci—who creates dynamic origami pieces with leather—to realize an origami-inspired accessory. The traditional Japanese technique of origami typically involves folding paper into a variety of intricate shapes—often representative of animals or plants. Assembled by Jay Zaccheus, this bag and the majority of the collection’s pieces use fish skin sourced from sustainable Icelandic supplier Nordic Fish Leather.

A clutch bag made from fish leather with orange, white, and pink chrysanthemum designs.

Chrysanthemum Patterned Fish Leather Clutch

Credit: Designed by Elisa Palomino-Perez, printed by Martina Imfeld at DevStudio, assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

In addition to the origami folds and natural dye processes, fish leather can also be printed on. This Chrysanthemum patterned clutch was designed by Palomino-Perez and printed by Martina Imfeld at DevStudio—a software company specializing in digital printing and color management software. The vibrant floral patterns were ink-jet printed on the leather using eco-friendly, water-based inks, and the bag was assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

A bright red clutch bag made from fish leather and patterned with shimmering gold koi fish imagery.

Lacquerware Fish Leather Clutch

Credit: Designed by Elisa Palomino-Perez, assembled by Campomaggi Caterina Lucchi SPA

Palomino-Perez realized this clutch’s glimmering design through laser engraving on a gold laminated surface. With the right leather surface and laser speed, power, and frequency settings, this method creates a clean embossed effect. Emulating traditional Japanese lacquerware, the results were achieved by laser etching away the gold surface lamination, revealing the red dyed fish leather surface beneath. Bag assembled by Italian artisan leatherworker Campomaggi Caterina Lucchi SPA and fish skins sourced from Nordic Fish Leather.

A brown clutch bag made from fish skin with a beige flower in the center, patterned with wood grain.

Zougan Fish Leather Clutch

Credit: Designed by Elisa Palomino-Perez in collaboration with artist Takafumi Mochizuki, assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

Fish leather and wood are quite the pair, as evidenced by this clutch designed in collaboration with artist Takafumi Mochizuki. The inlay technique used here is known as Zougan, a traditional Japanese woodworking technique local to the Hakone region, that works with the wood’s natural colors to create inlaid imagery—such as the flower pictured. Bag assembled by Jay Zaccheus and fish skins sourced from Nordic Fish Leather.

A clutch bag made from fish skin, decorated with a large flower created with collaged shapes cut from fish leather.

Hezhen Fish Skin Painting Clutch

Credit: Designed by Yulin Sun, assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

This layered clutch evokes the Hezhen tradition of fish skin painting. Originating from Northeast China, the indigenous Hezhen people have crafted their garments from fish skin for millennia and created artworks featuring spiritual symbols or nature imagery. For this clutch, Hezhen artist Yulin Sun crafted a flower motif from hand-tanned fish skins. The variation in shading and texture on the piece is owed to the texture of the material—achieved by utilizing using different parts of the fish for different layers. Bag assembled by Jay Zaccheus and material sourced from Nordic Fish Leather.

A clutch bag made from fish skin with a detailed design of a landscape.

Sakhalin Fish Skin Painting Clutch

Credit: Designed by Olga Kambolova, assembled by Jay Zaccheus.

The Sakhalin fish skin painting technique is echoed in this clutch whose surface treatment was created by Russian artist Olga Kambolova of Sakhalin island. To create this intricate collage, each piece was laboriously shaped from the hand-tanned skins of a variety of species of fish. Bag assembled by Jay Zaccheus and material hand tanned by Olga Kambolova.