Tree Research 2
ao research:
Regenerative colour from trees
ao is committed through practice-led research to exploring future avenues for plant-based colour. One avenue is exploring naturally occurring agricultural tree waste and the potential of trees generally to create regenerative, viable, marketable natural dye.
One of the dyes used in the ‘ao textiles with Gainsborough’ colour palette, linking in with this research to make our castaneda colour, is Chestnut derived from the regrowth of chestnut trees found in Occitania France.
“The plant tannins (elagic type) are extracted by using the water from wood and from the recycling of extraction condensates, so in closed production without any use of external water, nor waste water production. A VALUABLE CO-VALORIZATION since the wood after extraction is then used for the production of agromaterials for construction.”
ao’s Emma leads this area of research. The research to date indicates the importance of digging deeper into the possibility of localised colour models, using agricultural tree waste for a circular textile industry. As her colour trials indicate, the results from trees are promising in that they have colourfast properties suited to the fashion industry along with a beautiful and extensive colour range. Most importantly these colours have the potential to be produced regeneratively.
