Ecological tanned fish leather based on traditional vegetable-oil tanning techniques

AWARD YEAR

2019

CATEGORY

Play & Learning

GOALS

Responsible Consumption & Production

KEYWORDS

Ecological balance, Traditional tanning, Cultural Heritage

COUNTRY

Sweden

My name is Lotta Rahme, and I have studied traditional tanning techniques, seeking mentors among Inuit, Native Americans, Ainu and Sami women When I saw a pair of boots made from salmon skin, in Alaska, I began to further experiment with the tanning methods I use for mammal skin, vegetable tanning with bark and oil tanning with rapeseed oil, and adapted the recipes to that of fish skins. I teach courses yearly where students come from many different countries. I also travel and teach abroad

WEBSITE

http://www.lottasgarveri.se

Ecological tanned fish leather based on traditional vegetable-oil tanning techniques

To preserve and evolve traditional and ecological methods of tanning, and to spread this knowledge.

During 2018 I have noticed an increasing interest from the fashion industry concerning ecological and sustainable tanning, and specifically that of fish skin. During this year I taught a course on Island for design students from Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Finish, Italian and UK universities, as part of their higher education curriculums of sustainable fashion. They learned about the materials by starting with raw skins and transforming them to a usable products using bark from sallow and rapeseed oil. During the course we discussed the sustainability aspects of using fish waste from non-endangered species and ingredients that do not produce any toxic waste, and about unethical aspects of using skins from exotic endangered species. I have gathered my knowledge in the two books. "Traditional tanning; Leather and Fur skin” and "Fish leather tanning and sewing" and I have produced a traveling exhibition “Arctic Leather Tanning - A Cultural Heritage for Humanity.