Design | Could Nivala’s morsing grow into a big business? Colors have always been part of world trade, and now natural colors are in fashion

Textile dyeing secretive Green color exhibition opened at the Design Museum at an opportune time, in the middle of a light gray January.

In the basement of the museum, the first thing to look at is a large rug made of 120 pieces hanging on the back wall, which has been dyed and woven by a group of more than a hundred women. Its colors are eye-catching, as are the dozen “color circles” of yarns on display. They show how different grades of yarn are dyed with heather, morsing, onion peels or matara roots, for example.

The exhibition, built in a smaller space, can make a long journey into coloring the millennial cultural history and also the latest research.

The color really is does not matter. Indigo, for example, has caused outright murder. Initially, it was brought to Europe in small quantities and mainly for the use of artists, but as new trade routes increased, indigo threatened indigenous bridal farmers.

The farmers of the color bridal even set up an international political association to fight the import of indigo. There was a wide range of means: it was claimed, for example, that indigo was the color of the devil and rotted the fabric.

After all, imported indigo pulled a longer stalk. However, the cultivation of the color bride is recovering. At Nivala Finland, Natural Indigo Finland has a European scale considerable cultivation of the color bride, and the exhibition features a Marimekko Unikko-patterned collared shirt dyed in Nivala. It is Marimekko’s first product dyed with Natural Colors.

Eldest an archaeological dyeing discovery has been made in Georgia, according to the exhibition: flax fibers dyed with plants are more than 30,000 years old. The oldest known discovery of cotton, on the other hand, includes a piece of textile found in Peru. Indigo-dyed fabric dates back at least 6,200 years.

The trade routes for dyed textiles and dyes are their own chapter. Chinese and Indian silks have already been transported to Europe before the beginning of the era, and to Finland at the latest during the Iron Age (500 BC – 50 AD). The use of dyed imported fabrics indicated wealth or high status.

In natural colors the dyeing is uplifting like all self-doing, and the Corona Age undoubtedly has a part to play. Natural dyeing has also been chosen as the handicraft technique of 2022 in Finland. Dyeing with natural colors is included in the Living Heritage wiki list maintained by the National Board of Antiquities.

In Finland, the tradition of dyeing with natural colors is maintained and developed by Värjärikilta, who is one of the organizers of the Green Color exhibition. BioColour project and Päivi Hintsanen maintained by Coloria.net site alongside.

“When to start, can’t stop, ”commented the chairman of Värjärikilla Terhikki Mäkelä a week ago at an online event on the opening day of the show and described the awesome feeling as the dyed yarn rises from the pot. He has been dyeing yarns in Natural Colors since 1979.

Broths can cook from countless plant products. The animal kingdom, such as various aphids and some conch shells, has also helped people get color in their environment. Mushrooms and dwarfs have been used for dyeing in several cultures. Mushroom staining came into common knowledge in the 1970s.

The purple color obtained from a lichen was already known in the 14th century, but picking lichens is not a man’s right, as many of them regenerate very slowly.

If the lichens are forgotten, staining with natural colors is in many ways a worthwhile activity on a small scale. But when color is needed industrially, cooking nettles in color dams is not enough.

Industrial use synthetic dyes, which are mostly oil-based and harmful to the environment. Chemical treatment and dyeing of textiles is estimated to cause one-fifth of industrial water pollution.

A solution is being sought to the use of bio-based dyes. Bio-based dyes are currently being studied in Finland in an extensive BioColour project. It is a research project funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland for 2019–2025, which involves experts from ten different research units, such as Aalto University’s Arts and Bio2 units, the University of Eastern Finland and VTT Technology Research Center. The multidisciplinary group also includes a U.S. and a Brazilian university.

Long term the aim is to get methods that utilize biochemicals on a large scale, says the research teacher at Hamk Tech Päivi Laaksonen Recorded by the Design Museum. For example, VTT has studied which dye produces a red color in hemorrhoids known to the dyes. A replacement for synthetic dyes is desired from this type of research.

The transfer of old methods to current use does not work as such: the required field area, energy and water use would quickly render dyeing with natural dyes unecological.

According to the exhibition, it is also possible to biosynthetically produce dyes with strong and bright shades, such as those in which synthetic dyes have become accustomed.

Consumers also have the ball. In general, for example, many people will not think about the environmental impact of clothing colors at all.

Green at the Design Museum 27.3. until. The exhibition has been produced by the Finnish Handicraft Museum, where it was on display in Jyväskylä in the autumn of 2021. website related discussion.

Correction 29.1. at 09.51: Contrary to what was previously said in the story, staining with natural colors is not included in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List but in the Living Heritage wiki list maintained by the National Board of Antiquities.