Fiskin handbag in an editorial campaign
The Fiskin Story

From fish biologistto luxury craftsmanship

From fishbiologistto luxurycraftsmanship

A story shaped by science, resilience, and the courage to build differently

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Fiskin did not begin in fashion.It began with discovery.

A material most people had never thought to see as luxury.
Yuliia Buhlak working in the fish biology and aquaculture field
From fish biology to a new language of luxury
01 — Before fashion

There was science.

Founder Yuliia Buhlak spent a decade studying and working across fish biology, water bioresources and aquaculture. During a research training in Iceland, she encountered fish leather for the first time.

Where others saw an unfamiliar by-product, she saw texture, strength, rarity and possibility. That moment became the beginning of Fiskin.

10
years in fish biology and aquaculture
before an unexpected material opened the door to fashion.
02 — The material

No two skins tell the same story.

The natural scale pattern of salmon leather never repeats. Each surface carries its own rhythm, making every Fiskin object genuinely singular.

By working with a material connected to the food industry, Fiskin turns what is often overlooked into something designed to be kept, used and remembered.

Craftsmanship process in the Fiskin atelier
03 — From curiosity to mastery

An unfamiliar material demanded a new craft.

Fish leather required its own techniques. Through years of testing, Fiskin learned how to cut, reinforce, shape and finish the material without hiding its natural character.

The result is not an “alternative” version of a familiar accessory, but a design language built around the material itself.

Curiosity was the beginning. Precision made it luxury.
04 — The interruption

The brand was ready to begin. Then the war changed everything.

Yuliia leaving Ukraine with her young daughter after the full-scale invasion

Fiskin was founded in Ukraine shortly before the full-scale invasion. Yuliia left the country with her three-year-old daughter, leaving behind her home, professional life and everything already built around the new brand.

The story could have ended there. Instead, it entered its most defining chapter.

“This is not a story about being saved. It is a story about continuing to create when the familiar world disappears.”
Yuliia presenting Fiskin on stage in Norway Fiskin Apple Watch strap
Rebuilt
brick by brick
05 — Rebuilt from zero

In Norway, Fiskin became a way back to purpose.

With no atelier, team or established network, Yuliia began again. Nights became working hours. A small corner became a studio. Every new object restored momentum.

Fiskin rebuilt not by returning to what it had been, but by becoming more international, more focused and more ambitious.

Not a restart. A transformation.
06 — A brand between worlds

Born in Ukraine.
Reimagined in the North.

Ukraine gave Fiskin courage.

The instinct to create in uncertainty. Emotional force. Independence. The conviction that new value can emerge from unexpected places.

The North gave Fiskin clarity.

Restraint, functionality, closeness to water and nature, and a calmer understanding of what objects deserve to remain.

Together, they formed a luxury identity that belongs fully to neither world — and could only have been born between them.

07 — The return

Then Fiskin came home.

At the end of 2024, after nearly three years in Norway, Yuliia made another defining decision: Fiskin moved its creative and operational heart back to Ukraine.

This was not a return to the past. The brand came home carrying the perspective, discipline and international experience built in the North — ready to create in Ukraine and grow far beyond it.

Returning while the war was still ongoing was not a retreat from global ambition. It was a decision to build that ambition from home.

Rooted in Ukraine. Open to the world.
Yuliia Buhlak holding a Fiskin bag after returning the business to Ukraine
NorwayUkraine
Home
The next chapter began at home.
08 — Proof, not promises

A rare idea began to find its place.

From a home atelier to international platforms, Fiskin has earned attention through the distinctiveness of its material, the founder’s expertise and a vision that reaches beyond a single collection.

2021
Founded as a passion project
Fiskin began in Ukraine as a personal exploration of fish leather.
2022
Rebuilt in Norway
Fiskin began again after displacement from Ukraine.
2023
International recognition
Selected for business programmes and presented in Copenhagen.
2025
Returned to Ukraine
Fiskin moved its creative and operational heart home, carrying a global direction.
NOW
The next chapter
Building a global luxury house around pioneering materials.
Recognition of Fiskin and founder Yuliia Buhlak
What began as an unconventional material became a story people wanted to tell.
Yuliia Buhlak fishing outdoors in Norway
09 — Beyond the atelier

Nature has always been home.

For Yuliia, the connection to water and nature has never been a trend. A lifelong angler and fishing sport champion in both Ukraine and Norway, she finds clarity, strength and perspective outdoors — on rivers, lakes and ice.

That closeness to nature shapes how Fiskin works: noticing value where others overlook it, treating materials thoughtfully and creating objects worthy of lasting.

Competitive fishing champion — Ukraine & Norway
A better tomorrow begins with what we choose to create today.
10 — The future

We are not introducing an alternative material. We are creating a new language of luxury.

Fiskin is building a global luxury house around one of nature’s most overlooked materials.
Fiskin — Built around discovery