Thursday 1 May 2014

Vintage indigo batiks



In my last natural materials post I was talking about the sustainable indigo dyeing process of Malian textile designer Aboubakar Fofana. As some of you already know, I have been slightly indigo obsessed in the last weeks and there is plenty of indigo-related material left in my files, like these vintage ethnic textiles sold by Clubcu. It's a company that specialises in reclaimed materials and objects. I'm fascinated with the details of these fabrics, or indigo dyed batiks.

Batik is a method of using wax and dye to create patterns on a fabric. Certain areas of the fabric are blocked out with a wax, areas not meant for dyeing. The process can be repeated to create patterns and the last part of process is removing the wax. This is an ancient tradition that originated in Java, Indonesia.


The reason I wanted to continue with the subject of indigo is perhaps to point out the obvious, that there is no reason to abandon colours when decorating the natural home. Such homes tend to be mostly neutral, which is actually a style that I like, as long as there is plenty of texture and wood to keep the style interesting. Textiles are the ideal way to bring colours into your natural home; just make sure they are made of natural materials, e.g. cotton, linen, wool, and dyed without any chemicals that harm the environment.


I mentioned a book on indigo in the aforementioned post and there are two others I would like to point out: Indigo: Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans by Jenny Balfour-Paul and Indigo: The Colour that Changed the World by Catherine Legrand. These two are bound to be a great source of inspiration if you want to bring indigo into your natural home.


photo credit:
Clubcu

2 comments:

  1. The pattern on the second one is so beautiful! And that indigo shade! Thank you for the book recommendations, too, I'm sure they are wonderful sources of inspiration.

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad to hear you say that because I fell flat for it. Well, I had quite a difficulty choosing which batiks to share because I pretty much liked all of them!

      I think I have an indigo fetish ;-)

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