Elisa Palomino

Elisa Palomino
Smithsonian Institution · Department of Anthropology

Doctor of Philosophy

About

14
Publications
6,266
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27
Citations
Introduction
Elisa Palomino has 25 years’ experience working in the fashion luxury industry, academia and museums. She has been Head of the Studio at John Galliano, Christian Dior, Roberto Cavalli, Moschino and Diane von Furstenberg. She directs the Fashion Print department at Central Saint Martins where she has pioneered the adoption of sustainable practices. She has run successful projects (EU Horizon 2020-MSCA-RISE: Fishskin a Sustainable Raw Material; EU COSME WORTH project: Fish leather in the Luxury Industry) Recipient of Fulbright Scholar Award: ‘Arctic Fishskin clothing traditions’ at the Smithsonian Institute. AHRC LDoc scholarship, Daiwa Foundation, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Her research, recent fieldwork and workshops can be followed at: http://www.fishskinlab.com
Additional affiliations
January 2021 - December 2024
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Position
  • Associate Researcher
Description
  • Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Anthropology department. Arctic Studies Center. Associate researcher

Publications

Publications (14)
Conference Paper
Full-text available
People have worn clothes made from fish skin since early times, with earliest traces being found from the Hezhe ethnic minority group in Northeast China. There is evidence of fish skin leather production in Scandinavia, Alaska, Hokkaido, Japan, Northeast China and Siberia. Although the craft has almost disappeared, in 2006 the skill of processing f...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The use of fish skin is an ancient tradition in societies along rivers and coasts around the world and there is evidence of fish skin leather production in Scandinavia, Alaska, Hokkaido, Japan, northeast China and Siberia. For Arctic indigenous people, their relationship with fish plays an important role in maintaining their identities creating imp...
Chapter
Full-text available
In recent years there has been a growing interest in fish skin-a by-product of the food industry-as an alternative sustainable raw material for fashion. Global production of fish has steadily increased over the last decade, and more than 50% of the total remaining material from fish capture results in 32 million tonnes of waste. A substantial amoun...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The use of fish skin for the construction of garments and accessories is an ancient tradition shared by Arctic societies in coastal areas. They have maintained a strong relationship with the environment, developing a subsistence lifestyle depending on the marine environment's animal resources for food and clothing. Arctic fish skin craft has become...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Creating impact through sustainability, industry and education is becoming a major concern globally and it is reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as a common vision for future generations. Last March, the author and Icelandic tannery Atlantic Leather co-produced a fish skin workshop with the participation of students fro...
Article
Full-text available
Along the Arctic and sub-Arctic coasts of Alaska, Siberia, north-eastern China, Hokkaido, Scandinavia and Iceland, people have dressed in clothes or worn shoes made of fish skin for millennia. (Within this article, the terms fish skin and fish leather are used to indicate different processes of the same material. Fish skin: Skin indicates the super...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The ancient tradition of using fish skin to create clothing and accessories is shared by several coastal Arctic societies as part of their subsistence lifestyle depending on aquatic resources for nourishment and clothing. Antarctica has no population, but the Tehuelches, Selk'nam, Yámanas and Alakaluf are some of the world's southernmost Indigenous...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
From April to June 2020, during the Covid-19 isolation, Ran Graber, a third-year student of Shenkar University, Tel Aviv, elected to study and remake a 19th century fish skin attush (Ainu robe), under the guidance of Elisa Palomino, Orit Freilich, Ran Kassas and Debbie Elhayeni, as part of the F4*3D course. This small project of individuals-one stu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper explores the material design innovation process during a cross-disciplinary project working with fish leather. The Fishskinlab project aims to generate a deeper understanding of fish leather as an alternative to conventional leather to encourage more sustainable fashion practices. The objective is to create aesthetically relevant fish le...
Article
Full-text available
The Alutiiq, Indigenous inhabitants of the coastal regions of Southwest Alaska, created garments made from fish skins, especially salmon, expertly sewn by women from Kodiak Island. Traditionally, Alutiiq education focused on acquiring survival skills: how to navigate the seas in all weathers, hunting, fishing and tanning animal skins. Today, many A...
Article
Full-text available
Along the lower reaches of the Amur River, in Eastern Siberia, where the water empties into the Pacific Ocean, the indigenous Nivkh, Ulch and Nanai peo- ples dressed themselves with fish skin coats made with the skin of the chum salmon. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, these indigenous peoples lived entirely from fishing and hunting. S...
Presentation
Full-text available
The Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum has the mission to convey the knowledge of one the most influential fashion designers in history. Through the Transmissions educational project, the Museum connected with the world’s most prestigious fashion universities (Central Saint Martins, Kyoto Seika University, Parsons School of Design and Shenkar College) cre...

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