Indigo

Indigo has been around for many, many years. It has become established as a colour reference itself separate from weather it has been created with the actual dye. 

Blue, one of the most commonly favourited colours in the world. It evokes a calming presence, and don’t we all enjoy feeling calm? What is it about blue that associates us with the feeling of being calm, could it be that is plays such a large presence as a colour in nature, being the colour of the sky and bodies of water.  Especially when it comes to our homes, blue is a popular choice for bathrooms and bedrooms, the places where tranquility often matters most.

 Summer 2017, we will see indigo in a big way in fashion, but also in home decor. We will notice the increase of not only the textile patterns traditionally produced with Indigo, with the ancient Japanese resit dye techniques of Shibori. But also the solid colour of Indigo itself, sometimes referred to as raw indigo. This is the what is used to create denim, we will see an increase in denim wear throughout the fashion trends. 

But what is Indigo dye made of? Natural indigo is a plant based dye, one of the original plant sources for indigo is a plant called Indigofera tinctoria. To create the dye, plants are harvested and pressed in baths of water until the colour is extracted and the water has fermented. The plants are removed from the bath and the next step can vary depending on the dyers recipe.

As we continue into the year with a focus on natural materials and sustainability, it seems only right that indigo would appear in colour trends for 2017.