DYE HAPPY
2025
A community, colour + care project
Pursuing awe in traditional, ecological textile craft practices. Designing small interruptions in the extractive system behind modern textiles.
Context: Independant Project
Duration: 5 months (so far)
Feature Materials: natural dyes, natural fibres
Dyed Wool (L-R): Madder root (local garden), Onion skin (dinner waste), Douglas Fir cones (foraged).
The Story
Dye Happy is an ongoing and evolving exploration of natural dyes and textiles, material storytelling, the impact of textiles on our planet, and the legacy of these traditional (typically women-led) craft arts. What began with learning to naturally dye for a school project, has expanded into days buried in books on the history of fabric and the toxic dye industry. Email conversations with local sheep farmers, long chats with local environmental groups, and a whole lot of fabric-label sleuthing during shopping trips.
This project has fundamentally shifted how I approach industrial design—and how I understand my role as a maker on this planet, and it’s just getting started.
A high-fidelity online home for this work is in the works. For now, if I have sparked your interest, you can read this zine I wrote after the first two months of research, capturing the earliest steps in the journey. And below, you can take a little peek at where it has taken me more recently.
A Little Bit of Process
Natural printing with weld, marigold, and cochineal dye. Different colours achieved with a combination of alum, iron, and titanium mordants.
Assorted sketchbook pages with early historical research, test samples, and process/observation notes.
Making a table runner — my first attempt at applying these learnings to a higher fidelity product. Painted designs were screenprinted on with various mordents, and then soaked in multiple dye pots, layering into a sunset of colour.
