Colour for the 21st Century

AO Textiles: Karen Spurgin, Emma D’Arcey and Penny Walsh

Colour for the 21stcentury: Developing a model for industry.  The research investigates and demonstrates how traditional natural dye methods, drawn from archival practice, can be revived and adapted for regenerative, modern textile production.

AO Textiles is a project-based design consultancy evolving from a collaboration between Penny Walsh, Emma D’Arcey and Karen Spurgin.  AO Textiles research bridges the gap between historic natural dye recipes, and contemporary industrial production for the luxury market. Through practice-based research AO Textiles focusses on exploring historic dye formulae, and adapting them to modern textile production. While AO Textiles has investigated many of the issues encountered when designing textiles to a sustainable remit, the primary focus of their current and ongoing research is in the area of colour and natural dyes.  Could colour for the 21st century mean that it is time to look at natural dyeing through another lens? When it comes to colour, the textile industry is a major contributor to a linear model that puts billions of pounds of toxic material into the biosphere annually while more benign, traditional, bio-based dyes have largely been relegated to craft use due to concerns around their consistency and scalability. Employing methods such as archival research, interviews, and experiments with natural dyes, pigments, and mordants alongside textile sampling with an industry partner, AO Textiles has developed techniques that ensure natural dyeing processes are consistent, scalable, and biodegradable.

Outcomes demonstrate how bio-based dyes can successfully contribute to 21st century circular production, and have been tested in a range of high-quality, naturally-dyed jacquard weaves. The research has particular relevance at this time, contributing to the critical discourse on how we make things by addressing both environmental concerns and the demands of industry for aesthetically desirable fabrics. It contributes to wider industry and academic conversations on how to elevate sustainable craft-based practices into circular and viable production methods.

Website and instagram handle:

www.aotextiles.com

@ao_textiles