My favourite Dyers Masters

Michel Garcia has been working with vegetable dyes for more than fifteen years. Well versed in both botany and green chemistry, he is involved in projects to help develop vegetable colours and dyes as well as prints for all kinds of natural fabrics. Founder of the Botanical Garden of Dye Plants in the Château de Lauris, he is also specialized in pigment and ink making and in developing branches of the production and transformation of dye plants. Michel Garcia, who is an accredited and  internationally-recognized trainer, also organises individual or group workshops on natural colours and dyes.

Bryan Whitehead teaches shiboris and katazome techniques as well as indigo dyeing, silk farming, weaving and many other aspects of Japanese textile arts. He has been living in the mountains around Tokyo for 25 years. He raises silkworms, spins, dyes and weaves beautiful textiles. Bryan has a deep knowledge of Japanese culture and shares it generously. The place is unforgettable and his entourage is just as much.

India Flint has, for many years, developed extraordinary vegetable dyeing techniques that she called “ecoprints”. It applies to the use of processes related to an absolute ecological commitment that particularly affected me, such as the use of regional plants only. Her first book published in 2008 “Eco color: botanical dyes of beautiful textiles” brought a new and enlightened look at plant dyes while presenting tried and tested practices. It is famous especially for its colorful eucalyptus ecoprints and its theater and dance costumes. India today shares its teachings around the world.

Friends

– The non-profit association Hemp Wallon, which is putting hemp textile back into production!

– Marie Cabanac et sa PermaCouture

– Anne Sylvie Godeau, from Lutea, produces dyeing plants in Belgium and in particular indigo. She has developed a palette of plant watercolors!

– Charlotte Marembert has created Myrobolan, a brand of wools dyed only with plants. She is also one of the three creators of the Nuances de Plantes association

– La cantate du chanvre for organic and ethical fabrics

– Naturellement chanvre for the same

– Grande droguerie le Lion

– Maiwa

– the Wervel association which works for food sovereignty and a fair and responsible agriculture – Brussels

– the Valbiom association who values biomass – Gembloux

Some history

– http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/History of cannabis

– excellent reportage on hemp history  Jack Herer, Emperor of Hemp

Readings on textile

– The campaign « Detox » de Greenpeace,

– le webdocumentaire Transversales « Est-ce là le prix de nos t-shirts ? » de Marc Molitor et Patrice Hardy sur la Première

– l’article « Une vie de tshirt » de Cécile Cazenave sur Terra Eco Net

• Second Skin: choosing and caring for textiles and clothing, India Flint, 2011, Murdoch Books
• Vêtement: la fibre écologique, Myriam Goldmine et Claude Aubert, 2001, Terre Vivante
• Toxiques alimentaires, Marie Langers et Dr Maurice Rabache, 2004, Librio Santé
• Le plus beau métier du monde, dans les coulisses de l’industrie de la mode, Giulia Mensitieri, 2018, Editions La Découverte
• Du nylon et des bombes : DuPont de Nemours, le marché et l’État américain, Pap Ndiaye, 2001, Belin
• Coton, des vies sur le fil: agriculture, environnement et conditions de travail, Stéphane Parmentier et Olivier Bailly, 2005, Oxfam Magasins du monde
• Voyage aux pays du coton, petit précis de mondialisation, Éric Orsenna, 2006, Fayard
• Fibres naturelles : le renouveau, in L’Ecologiste n°29 , 2009

Readings on vegetable dyes

• Stitched Shibori, techniques, innovation, pattern, design, Jane Callender, 2017, Search Press
• Eco colour: botanical dyes of beautiful textiles, India Flint, 2008, Murdoch Books
• Stuff, steep + store, India Flint, 2013, Prophet of Bloom, Blurb
• Couleurs végétales, teintures, pigments et encres, Michel Garcia, 2002, Edisud
• Plantes colorantes, teintures végétales, le nuancier des couleurs, Michel Garcia et Anne-France Bernard, 2006, Edisud
• De la garance au pastel, le jardin des teinturiers, Michel Garcia et Marie-Françoise Delarozieres, 2002, Edisud
• Indigo, périple bleu d’une créatrice textile, Catherine Legrand, 2012, Editions de La Martinière
• Guide des teintures naturelles – Plantes à fleurs, Marie Marquet, 2011, Editions Belin
• Guides des teintures naturelles – Champignons et Lichens, Marie Marquet et Caroline Paliard, 2016, Editions Belin
• Wild Color, the complete guide to making and using natural dyes, Jenny Dean, 1999, Watson Guptil Publilcations
• Le monde des teintures naturelles, Dominique Cardon, 2003, Belin
• Koekboya. Natural dyes and textiles, a colour journey from Turkey to India and beyond, Harald Bohmer, 2002, Remhob
• Colorants et tanins, ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale 3, PROTA, 2005, Blackhuis Publisher
• Bleus et ocres de Guinée, Teintures végétales sur textiles, Anne-Chantal Gravellini et Annie Ringuedé, Sepia 2005
• Guide Delachaux des arbres d’Europe, Owen Johson et David More, 2004, Harper Collins Publishers
• Shibori, the inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing, Yoshiko Wada, Mary Kellogg Rice et Jane Barton, 1999, Kodansha Edition