Women sharpen their knives before setting about stinking piles of fish skins, flesh and bones that cover the floor at an unusual artisanal tannery in western Kenya.
Set up by 39-year-old industrial chemist Newton Owino, Alisom Products separates fish skins from the rest of the waste, and then tans them to make a kind of leather used to manufacture handbags, wallets, shoes, hats and jackets.
On Lake Victoria, Kisumu is a city where grilled tilapia and Nile perch are a ubiquitous delicacy, and from where cleaned fillets are exported around the region and the world.
Photo: AFP
However, Owino saw opportunity in the leftovers.
An estimated 150,000 tonnes of fish waste are produced every year, with 80 percent of the waste being dumped. Owino and his dozen employees offer an alternative.
“My major business here is [to] turn fish skin into leather,” he said, pacing the yard in gumboots and a polo shirt. “[There are] plenty of raw materials that we have around here.”
Fleets of bicycle transporters every day bring sacks of skins from fishermen, restaurants and factories to his little facility.
There, workers strip the last pieces of rancid flesh from fly-covered skins and hang them to dry on wooden beams, like clothes on a washing line. Hungry birds peck at his product.
The dried skins are stuffed inside a rusty hand-cranked drum and drenched in an acidic herbal solution based on local fruits such as papaya or avocado that tans them into fish leather.
“We now do what is called the drum turn,” said Owino, putting his shoulder into spinning the contraption.
What comes out is softer, darker and less smelly. The skins are then descaled, stretched and dried again, becoming workable leather.
Fella Atieno is a designer of fish leather shoes, making sandals, boots and other footwear.
Everything is done by hand with only a pen, a pair of scissors, some glue and dye. The result is distinctive products, with scale patterns reminiscent of crocodile or snake skin, but at a fraction of the price.
Shoes sell for 1,500 shillings (US$14.95) and jackets for 2,000.
Allan Ochieng, a student working with Owino, looks forward to earning “thousands of shillings” once his training is complete.
“In addition to creating jobs for slum dwellers, we also offer leather products that they can afford,” Owino said.
His customers agree.
“If we have fish, why can’t we be proud of our fish and use them more economically?” said Lawrence Odero, who was visiting the workshop. “So, when I put on the shoes made from fish leather, I put on the cap as well as the jacket.”
“I feel happy — I feel very proud,” he added.
While there are other tanneries in town, Owino’s is the only one specializing in fish leather.
He uses a chemical-free tanning process for his unique products, Owino said, adding that he hopes to expand his business with a manufacturing school and training facility for prospective fish tanners.
“We actually [have] the vision of establishing a leather school so that we can pass on this knowledge of technology to other people. Not just doing it for ourselves,” Owino said.
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