PARIS — French artist and designer Eugène Riconneaus is expanding his reach into new materials with the launch of ER Ocean Recherche, a research and development hub devoted to creating next-gen sustainable fibers and textiles sourced from the ocean.

First out of the gate will be SeiShell, a marine-based leather alternative and fabric, and SeiYarn, a fiber yarn that can be turned into new materials for the fashion industry.

“The designer’s job has changed,” Riconneaus said in an interview. “With a paper and a pencil and a color palette, actually you have a big responsibility in the value chain. You’re the only one that can really influence your board of directors about what is the impact of your product.”

“We don’t need another dress. We don’t need another pair of shoes. But if I do create another one, it has to be good for the planet,” he said. “My fight is for the ocean.”

Both materials are based on Sei, ER Ocean Recherche’s proprietary structure.

SeiShell creates a coated canvas leather alternative, which is plastic free. It can be made in a variety of thicknesses and uses natural pigments from marine sources. The plastic-free material can be made in large roll-to-roll format suitable for applications from fashion to automotive.

SeiYarn is an alternative to viscose or rayon cellulose fiber with multiple applications. It can be used in delicate iterations such as silk-like lace, knitwear or high-performance synthetics.

The materials are currently in the pilot phase. Riconneaus has been working with spinners and producers in France, Italy and Portugal to get to scale, and the material is expected to be able to be made available by September.

The founder and designer behind the ER Souliers line, Riconneaus first began his foray into new materials while looking for an alternative to petroleum-based paint and pigments for his artwork. He created a vivid blue that he has since used in his paintings.

That research interest grew during the pandemic, when he developed a new oyster shell-based sneaker sole. That product launched commercially in 2023.

Since then, he’s continued to expand his research, turning his Paris studio into a scientific hub.

The sea continues to be Riconneaus’ inspiration, with the new research initiative deep diving into new uses for marine biomass, particularly invasive seaweed including Sargassum endemic to the southern Atlantic coast of France, near his hometown of La Rochelle. He has also continued to explore new uses for seafood byproducts such as oyster shells.

Additional research is taking place in Portugal.

“We study the marine ecosystem with the objective to co-create with the ocean to replace plastic,” Riconneaus said. “The scope of the project is to study what algae should be grown, because actually they are very good to produce polymer, as well as what is the invasive species that we can valorize to produce garments.”

Rinconneaus plans to open a larger scale research facility in Paris. He is also currently working on a line of dresses made from the materials to show the material’s applications. Both are expected to take place in September.

He hopes that, as the project expands its scope, ER Ocean Recherche can bridge the gap between designers and lab researchers.

“We need to create more synergies in this industry. We should help each other, because the fashion industry needs scalable solutions, and we need to speed up the research and create a new industry in Europe,” he said. “I’m a very small drop in this big ecosystem that needs solutions.”

The Sei products, including the polymer polymer, fiber and leather alternative, will be on display at ChangeNow sustainability convention in Paris, April 24 to 26.