News / Enterprise
Bristol graduate starts UK’s first fish leather firm
A former University of Bristol student has started the country’s first fish leather firm after struggling to find that perfect gift for her father’s 60th birthday.
Antonia Gillett wanted to get her dad a fish leather wallet to remind him of their fishing trips to Scotland – but couldn’t find anywhere in the UK making them.
So the biology graduate took it upon herself to learn the rare skill of fish skin tanning to sew him a wallet for his big day.
Two years later and the 28-year-old now runs Felsie, a business which repurposes waste salmon skins into non-odorous wallets, card holders and more.
Antonia Gillet has started the UK’s first feather leather firm after being unable to find her father a fish leather wallet for his 60th birthday – photo: University of Bristol
“Learning to tan the fish was hard because few people do it these days, and fewer people share it,” said Antonia, who now lives in Stroud.
“Before the pandemic hit I was working for a small business in Zambia which made jewellery out of snares set by poachers.
“Working there taught me loads about business and conservation – but there was also a feeling there that you could make anything that you wanted happen.”
Antonia gives 50 per cent of Felsie’s profits to river conservation charities and has also just won a Young Innovators Award from Innovate UK to expand the business out of her back room.
Main photo: University of Bristol
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