Premier Vision Paris held twice a year contains so many marvellous materials, leather and accessories as well as spaces of pure imagination and inspiration. It was in the leather pavilion that we came across these amazingly textured fish skins, a bovine leather alternative from the Amazon basin.
Premier Vision Paris Feb 2020 leather pavilion.
The Pirarucu fish is found in the lakes and rivers of the Amazon Basin and has been a staple food in the diet of the peoples of north Brazil for centuries, the skin was usually discarded.
Brazilian artist and designer Oscar Metsavaht created a project with UNESCO in Brazil to create a guiding philosophy called ASAP (As Sustainable As Possible). Putting the discarded skins to good use has resulted in an extra ordinary fish skin than has been tanned to create a textural alternative material.
Pirarucu fish skin accessory
Stephen checking out the Pirarucu skin Paris feb 2020
The managed fisheries ensure set quotas of fish can only be caught once they have reached a size of 150 cm in length the total catch never to be more than 20% of stock.
The skins are sold by local fishing communities to the tannery, they are finished in to the Pirarucu skin leather alternative. This circular economy is having very positive effects within the local economy, both social and environmental.
Stamp from 1954 British Guiana Arapaima gigas.
