In the Colour4Crafts project, research groups from a range of fields as well as research and development businesses are joining forces to produce new information on the use of dyes and pigments in historical times as well as new high-tech applications for bio-based dyes, University of Helsinki said on its website.

Riikka Raisanen, professor of craft science and craft pedagogy and head of Colour4Crafts, said: “In this multidisciplinary project, history is our starting point. We want to see what we can learn from the past, while at the same time we aim to innovate new, increasingly green ways of producing dyes and using them in ways that do not pollute and consume resources as little as possible. It is important to dream and, at the same time, stretch our notion of the world, which is why the words ‘futuring’ and ‘stretching’ were also included in the project title.”

Raisanen has also led the BioColour project, funded for a six-year term by the Strategic Research Council (at the Academy of Finland), which she believes has already had an impact on the inclusion of bio-based dyes and pigments in the offerings of Finnish textile companies.

Also involved in the Colour4Crafts project are the faculty of science as well as several international operators and partner universities. The University of Helsinki’s share of the €4 million project funding is €1,675,090, which is divided between two faculties. The share of the faculty of educational sciences is €1,160,090 and the share of the faculty of science is €515,000.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)