Abstract
A turn towards the development of sustainable textile dyes moved new pigments into the centre of attention – the pigments metabolised by pigment-producing bacteria. In this paper, we present practice-based research that aims at expanding the field of textile dyeing with living bacteria through exploring possibilities for intentional pattern design. Experiments were guided by two research questions: RQ1: How can the use and combination of different textile fibres influence and enable textile pattern development with bacteria? RQ2: How can textile surface manipulation techniques be used for pattern design with living pigments? We show a series of 40 different samples that are the result of combining bacterial dyeing methods with diverse textile and digital fabrication technologies. We use one type of bacterial strain Janthinobacterium lividum, whose bluish-purple pigment violacein is a very promising metabolite for textile dyeing. It is then confronted with 3D printing on textiles, jacquard weaving with a combination of different fibres in warp and weft, laser engraving, wax resist, plate pressing and colour injection techniques, among others. These foster an interplay of human control and bacteria growth combining control and chance, guidance and self-determination, given paths and own ways. Our study contributes initial insights into how textile design with living pigments may expand both, aesthetic expressions and the application spectrum for simultaneous fermentation and dyeing of textiles with non-modified living chromogenic bacteria. The broader aim of the research is to make this new dyeing method competitive with methods that are currently predominant but highly hazardous.
Keywords
bacterial pigments; violacein; textile pattern design; biodyes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2023/109
Citation
Moser, J., Fleck, K.,and Posch, I.(2023) Growing Patterns: Textile Design with Living Pigments, in Tincuta Heinzel, Delia Dumitrescu, Oscar Tomico, Sara Robertson (eds.), Proceedings of Textile Intersections Conference 2023, 20 - 23 September, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/TI-2023/109
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Biotextiles and sustainable textiles
Included in
Growing Patterns: Textile Design with Living Pigments
A turn towards the development of sustainable textile dyes moved new pigments into the centre of attention – the pigments metabolised by pigment-producing bacteria. In this paper, we present practice-based research that aims at expanding the field of textile dyeing with living bacteria through exploring possibilities for intentional pattern design. Experiments were guided by two research questions: RQ1: How can the use and combination of different textile fibres influence and enable textile pattern development with bacteria? RQ2: How can textile surface manipulation techniques be used for pattern design with living pigments? We show a series of 40 different samples that are the result of combining bacterial dyeing methods with diverse textile and digital fabrication technologies. We use one type of bacterial strain Janthinobacterium lividum, whose bluish-purple pigment violacein is a very promising metabolite for textile dyeing. It is then confronted with 3D printing on textiles, jacquard weaving with a combination of different fibres in warp and weft, laser engraving, wax resist, plate pressing and colour injection techniques, among others. These foster an interplay of human control and bacteria growth combining control and chance, guidance and self-determination, given paths and own ways. Our study contributes initial insights into how textile design with living pigments may expand both, aesthetic expressions and the application spectrum for simultaneous fermentation and dyeing of textiles with non-modified living chromogenic bacteria. The broader aim of the research is to make this new dyeing method competitive with methods that are currently predominant but highly hazardous.