Natural Dyes

It all started when...

I recognized that each time I used a store-bought fabric, colored and designed by someone else, produced and dyed using unsustainable methods, I felt incredibly inauthentic to my creative self and values.

Color in the human life has always been a complex and prevalent need – it evokes emotion, and has created associations specific to cultures and individuals. In most of history, color has originated from naturally occurring materials. When synthetic dyes were industrialized in the 19 th century, the use of natural dyes dissipated in a society quickly industrializing. In a world of fast fashion and mass production, we have been blinded by cheap consuming and often forget how the earth had shaped the things we wear and the textiles we use.

In the present and in the future, I hope to bring light onto the craft of naturally dyeing. While we cannot move back to a time of preindustrialization (and probably do not truly wish to), we can move forward with a stronger appreciation of the materials that the earth can directly give us. I want to inspire others to not only look to the earth for inspiration, but to actually receive color from it. In an age where being ecofriendly is trendy, I think this is possible. However, we must defeat the association that people have with terms like “ecofashion” or “ecoart” that is of plain and dull colors and forms. Natural dyes are bright and beautiful, and with the aid of newer technologies, we can be more innovative in the way we use them.

Bailey Knight