4 Revisiting our working installation at the V&A: Touche de Rouge
Inspired by the humble looking root called ‘madder’ the beginnings of our working installation at the V&A started. Madder is one of the classic natural dye plants, producing reliable colourfast colour on textiles if dyed in the right way. A favourite plant for us to use for its rich and varied colour palette. From subtle pinks through to vibrant oranges and rich russet reds. ao’s Penny’s many years of expertise, re-creating and re-working historic dye recipes ensures this diverse variety.
The fabric that we showcased was entitled ‘Mineral’, a hand marbled design created by Emma and subsequently transposed into artisan jacquard weave production using naturally dyed madder yarn.
We are able to create repeatable and marketable colour in yarn production using plant- based dyes and are the first group to have enabled this kind of production in the UK.
