Colour (Re)Imagined

With growing urgency for an eco-conscious approach to colour and print in textile design this paper seeks to outline how a collaborative practice by the authors has informed a series of workshops for students, enabling them to move towards a more conscious design practice.

In 2018 the authors of this paper founded Colour Matter - a materials and colour research studio to develop projects and explore concepts through colour, its connectedness to people and planet. By using open ended research methods and by exploring material narratives the studio seeks to address some of the environmental challenges faced by the textile industry.

The paper describes how the authors used their own collaborative practice to create a series of material prototypes as a response to the environmental challenges faced through print and dye techniques. The paper explores how this experience of prototype to pedagogy, ultimately supported students to pinpoint opportunities to embed a more conscious design approach within their print projects and enabled them to align with future industry directions.

Presented here are a selection of collaborative research approaches used by the authors and reflection of how these approaches have informed a series of workshops and discussions for students. The paper documents a range of outcomes from final year print students that have drawn on our working methodology and have, in turn created opportunities for a more conscious approach to low impact print.