Colour4CRAFTS: Colour for Combining, Re-engineering, Applying, Futuring, Transforming, Stretching!

In the three-year international project, the cultural tradition of colors and dyeing is combined with the latest technology. The project investigates the cultural tradition of dyes and textile dyeing in historical times and, on the other hand, the development of new dyeing technologies and bio-based dyes using cultural historical information.

The project is coordinated by the University of Helsinki. The partners are the University of Lapland, the University of Leeds (Great Britain), the University of Tartu (Estonia) and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage of Belgia KIK-IRPA, as well as PILI Bio from France, which develops colors using enzyme technology.The total funding of the project is 4.079 million euros, of which the financial contribution received by the University of Lapland is 336,000 euros. The subproject of the University of Lapland is led by Professor Ana Nuutinen. In addition, Post doctoral researcher Laura Seppälä, University Teacher Jenni-Liisa Yliniva University and Lecturer Karoliina Laxström and are part of the project team at the University of Lapland. The funding is EU consortium funding from the Horizon Europe framework programme.

The cultural tradition of colours and dyeing is combined with the latest technology in an EU-funded project

The degree programme of Fashion and Textile Design takes part in an extensive project that combines the cultural tradition of colourants and textile dyeing with the development of new dyeing technologies and bio-based dyes. The international project is financed by the European Union’s Horizon Europe framework programme.

For a designer, especially in the field of fashion and textiles, colour is one of the most important choices in the design process. However, few consider where the colour comes from in all the products around. It is widely known that the production of dyes and dyeing involves considerable environmental problems, which is why there will be a need for greener ways of producing and using dyes in the future.

In the international Colour4CRAFTS project, research groups from different disciplines and RD companies join forces to produce new information on the culture history of using dyes and new technological applications of bio-based dyes. Researchers and business partners examine what kind of new perspectives history and traditional working methods could open for the production and use of colors to solve environmental problems here and now. In addition, it will be studied how traditional working methods could be applied to produce and use dyes that are more environmentally friendly than before.

University of Lapland focuses on education and new applications of dyeing, as well as the values and attitudes associated with natural colorsIn the project, the researchers of the University of Lapland’s Fashion and Textile Design study, for example, how European textile art and craftsmanship could promote the sustainable dyeing of textiles in the future. The goal is to propose new applications for traditional dyes and methods. In addition, they organise training related to sustainable textile dyeing, where the production of colours is studied using practical methods.

Link to the project website: https://colour4crafts.eu