Nicole Stjernsward developed a safer, simpler, and healthier solution to conventional fabric dye — using scraps of old fruits and veggies.
Fabric dyes are a toxic problem in modern society, just think that only the United States generate more than 15 million pounds of textile waste each year. In response to the environmentally harmful practices of some companies that prioritize quick and cheaply made garments over long-lasting quality and fair workers' wages, some brands and designers are making ethically sourced materials and manufacturing processes a production requirement.
Among these is Nicole Stjernsward, a London-based design technologist, who has developed KAIKU, a system which turns fruit and vegetable peels into powder pigment through the use of vaporization technology.
"Historically colours came from local materials using recipes that only required a few ingredients: most of the ingredients were things commonly found in your kitchen, such as casein and quark from milk, mineral pigments were made with natural sources like soil and clay, and more exotic colours were extracted from local plants or wildlife," says Stjernsward.
"On the other hand, today, paint companies focus on having the most durable and vibrant pigments, which are often full of inexpensive petrochemical feedstocks, which are essentially used to derive the paint's ingredients. More over, modern paints have a terrible impact on the environment during both paint manufacturing and at the end of a product's life cycle. For example, pigment waste often leaks into surrounding landscapes, poisoning water and soil for humans and animals," adds Stjernsward. "Beyond paint's effect on the environment, synthetic colours are widely perceived to be hazardous to the health of humans and animals".
In this regard, Nicole Stjernsward developed a system which provides a necessary alternative to these chemical colours by using food waste as a source of sustainable colour creation. Many plants and fruits we eat every day have valuable colours within their skins and peels. Normally these are left to rot in landfills, but KAIKU transforms this waste into a high value resource.
After realizing how toxic most of these pigments are, the designer started researching bio-derived colour, which is made from plants, flowers, and barks.
KAIKU's ability to alchemize carbon-based materials into pigment relies on vaporization technology; though this method is commonly used by larger companies, KAIKU downsizes this approach for an everyday user. As it stands, KAIKU only generates powder pigments—a decision Stjernsward made in order to guarantee a longer shelf life.
"I found that natural dyes mould quickly and need to be used instantly, which is impractical and frustrating for artists and textile designers. It was this insight that informed my decision to figure out a mechanical method for drying the dyes," she says. "Once I had figured out how to remove the water which causes the mould, I had a useful dry powder that could be rehydrated into a dye. Vaporization technology removes the liquid component from the boiled, water-rich fruit and vegetable peels, allowing the resulting pigments to last for months. These powder pigments are rehydrated by mixing them with paint materials like egg tempera", says the designer.
"Almost anything that grows can be used to create dyes and colour, but some are much better than others for this task: fruits and vegetables with high water content and thin peels don't work as well, as they don't contain much colour in them and produce very weak or non-existent colour; traditional crops like indigo and woad were often used to create fabric dyes because of their rich colour; natural materials like wood bark can be treated with KAIKU, but its toughness demands that it be soaked for a week or more before processing. In short, anything with thick rinds or large seeds can be used to extract useful colour compounds. Additionally, I have had really good results with fruits that have a high tannin content such as avocado and grapefruit peels, which produce nice red and warm orange tones."
During the development of this food waste vaporization system, says Stjernsward she had some challenges getting the water pressure just right. And though she's continuing to refine just how her product generates vivid vegetable dyes, companies and textile designers have already expressed interest in finding ways to work KAIKU into their production pipelines. Stjernsward concludes: "If we are moving toward a circular economy, we need to think about ways to make colour more recyclable, which is why I think natural colour is good for this as it fades over time."