Microalgae are the weeds of waterways that snake throughout cities. Material designers and scientists have been harvesting this abundant natural material to create bio-fuel, biodegradable plastics and now self-growing pigment for textile printing.
The design studio Blond & Bieber collaborated with the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), to create a dye palette from living microalgae that could be used as pigment for textile printing. The palette is a vibrant range of unique greens, blues and reds extracted from the microalgae.
The result of printing on textiles using this self-grown pigment is an ever-changing combination of colors. The colors are not lightfast and thus can change dramatically over time.
This collaboration explores new alternatives for more traditional chemical-dye processes and opens a world of opportunities for autonomously
self-grown pigments.
