Global Blue: Re-inventing Indigo for the 21st Century

Indigo is one of the oldest and most precious of dyes; its early history is well

documented in the records of various excavations at archaeological sites around

the world. Amongst other textiles of antiquity were shrouds of Egyptian mummies

trimmed with indigo stripes dating from the 3^rd millennium BC; also found were

remains of indigo vats at Mohenjodaro. Ancient frescoes, manuscripts and textiles

reflect the extensive use of blue and are a testament to the lustre and durability of

the colours even after centuries of exposure to heat, dust, light and moisture.

Global Blue_Re-inventing Indigo for the 21st Century

Ruby Ghuznavi

The Indigo Extraction Process

Indigo Presentation

Small-scale textile production using natural dyes

The handloom weaving project of UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives) in Bangladesh, operates as part of an alternative approach  to the industrialisation process. Handloom weaving activity is not based on the use of fossil fuels. This ecological practice is being integrated with the practice of ecological agriculture in the rural areas where the project is in operation. The project is also designed to avoid the use of chemical dyes in cloth production, as this causes environmental and health hazards. The use of natural dyes is still very limited and is confined to very sophisticated process of cloth production, which is often very expensive. In this project, clothes are  being produced with the use of various forms of natural dyes.

Colors Are Magical

They affect our being deeply, so much so, that the living, glistening green of nature after rain creates feeling of peace in our heart, even the colours of food help to make our mouth water- making us hungry. Colour that we wear everyday, makes us feel cool, agitated, happy even sad. We make many choices in our every day lives based on colour.

色 は魔法です。色は私たちにたくさんの影響を与えています。たとえば、雨のあとの生き生きとしたきらめく自然の緑は、心を平和な気持ちにさせてくれるし、食 べ物の色は私たちの食欲をかき立てます。毎日洋服を着るときに選ぶ色によって、私たちの心は落ち着いたり、わくわくしたり、幸せな気分になったり、ときに は悲しくなることもあります。私たちは毎日、色によってさまざまな選択をしています。Japanese_Colours are magical_Natural dye workshop