Open magazine on The Colours of Nature

Open magazine on The Colours of Nature

Image and text belong to openthemagazine.com

4 January 2018: (…) “Larraona is among the last custodians of the age-old practice of cold vat dyeing—a process where the water is never changed, instead undergoing a refresh every day with ‘food’ for the microbes that enable fermentation. “It is the most eco-friendly way of dyeing. But it takes a lot of effort and money,” he says. “You need a good nose to tell if your vat has the right PH.” A trusted lieutenant maintains the pots, coming in even on holidays. When he first came to India, Larraona doggedly ploughed through fat 19th-century volumes published by state revenue and agricultural departments to learn ancient and vanishing processes of dyeing. “That is how I picked up English,” he says. At his house, a happy mess of toys, dogs and books, I flip through pages heavily highlighted in neon, detailing entire dyeing processes practised at the time in Sambalpur, Mysore and Seoni, among other centres. (…) The full article is available here: www.openthemagazine.com/article/new-year-2018-double-issue/the-dyeing-art-of-india