Modern isn't always necessarily the best.
Don't get us wrong - we don't want to sound old fashioned or anti-modernist. On the contrary, we believe in innovation, in new opportunities and the power it has on the creative process. Without modern, we wouldn't have progress!
We are talking about something different. Think about the items you buy for your house. Anything from books to your sofa, or even the processed food you consume, can contain chemical dye. It's not that recent since we discovered wallpapers could slowly poison us because they contained arsenic - used for creating a certain shade of green. Of course, we live in a much safer society now. However, not only consuming healthy food, but also wearing healthy/sustainable clothes or buying healthy and long lasting items for your living space are a huge topic of discussion now. People care about what they consume, touch, or even breathe, more than ever.
Enter ancient experience and know-how.
This is why we wanted to produce our handmade kilims with natural dye. Natural dye has been used in textiles since a very long time. There are fibers traced back to the years 4000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia and India. The color indigo blue (which is also used for denims) comes from a plant based in India. Up until mid 19th century, natural dye was used in fabrics, textile, rugs, artifacts, wall paintings and even writing tablets. Chemical dyes entered our lives two centuries ago, and now it is losing its popularity due to it's unhealthy ingredients both harmful for humans and the nature.
It's difficult to create it, yet, it's healthy and durable. Mostly, plants, bugs and spice has been used for creating natural dye, and there's a long process in order to achieve the desired color. It's known that there is a wide range of plants for producing natural dye, like sage or grape wine for yellow, walnut and pomegranates for brown and various roots for red. Interestingly, green can't be produced directly from a plant, so it's attained by 2 steps of dyeing - first yellow, and then by mixing it with indigo, green is made. Same goes for orange.
How will you know it's natural dye?
If your rug has a steady color in every part, it's likely that it's not natural dye. Usually, natural dyed rugs have different fades in a single color. They are imperfect. You can see this pattern on our kilims.
Colors on your rug would be more harmonious. They also wouldn't be monochromatic like synthetic dyes.
When exposed to the sun, chemical dyes fade faster than natural dye.
Vibrant doesn't always mean chemical. There are very vibrant colors in nature, too!
We believe in collective knowledge - what we've learned from the past is important for creating a better future. We also believe combining ancient knowledge with new/modern possibilities is what will make us successful as humans. That's why we will continue to use these techniques.
Come join us in our journey! Follow us on social or just tell about us to a friend and let's spread the word ❤