Vanessa Mardirossian:
My inspiration
When I saw this picture, I instantly understood the connexion between the material and the living world. It shows the porosity of our skin and the invisible interaction between dyes and the body, often addressed but not heard by many scientific reports. Credit: Lance Lee, Greenpeace.
How can a biomimetic approach to textile design contribute to the conception of non-toxic and sustainable dyes?
My concern about the toxicity of textiles emerged during my career as a textile designer where I used synthetic dyes and fabrics that emitted fumes and smoke that irritated my throat. However, the trigger for this doctoral research was the report Toxic Thread: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up (Greenpeace, 2012), showing that a majority of clothing contains synthetic substances derived from petrochemicals (phthalates, nonylphenol ethoxylates and azo dyes), which can cause various health problems and cancers. When I suspected these observations to be potentially related to personal health issues, I started to study colours beyond their pretty appearance.