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Homegrown Colour Ltd.
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on December 16, 2024
FEATURED
Uncategorized

Why this is now the most precious pigment on the planet

FEATURED

This is quite likely the rarest pigment on the planet. It’s the only British Indigo dye kit (we’re aware of) derived from certified organic woad plants.…

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Recent Posts

  • Why this is now the most precious pigment on the planet
  • Homegrown Colour: helping textile dyers transition from synthetic to renewable colours
  • Our woad waste helps power the National Grid! How agroecological growing can help regenerate the textile industry
  • British Indigo from Organic Woad: our new dye kit soft-launches at Groundswell 2024

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*UPDATE* we sold out even quicker than last time! *UPDATE* we sold out even quicker than last time! Please join our mailing list to be notified when our next batch goes on sale via 🔗 in profile or by visiting HomegrownColour.co.uk #WearBritishBlue A NEW DROP of our super rare, limited edition, inclusively exclusive, pioneering, truly regenerative, organically grown, British Blue dye kits goes on sale at 10am! Hype or no hype, they’re incredibly special and what a privilege it is to wear a colour that’s helping make life better! 🔗 in profile! 🌀💙🦋 #bioregional #climatebeneficial #naturaldye #indigodye #indigodyed #BIFOW #britishindigofromorganicwoad
#wearbritishblue 🌀 Our next batch of ‘British #wearbritishblue 🌀 Our next batch of ‘British Indigo from Organic Woad’ kits is ready and will go on sale in our online shop at HomegrownColour.co.uk tomorrow at 10am. Get ready because our first batch sold out in just a few hours! After a challenging growing season this year, we very much appreciate such great support and look forward to seeing more people wearing our British Blue! #bioregional #climatebeneficial #naturaldye #indigodye #indigodyed #BIFOW #britishindigofromorganicwoad #woad #woadblue
I’ve been doing some indigo dyeing with our @hom I’ve been doing some indigo dyeing with our @homegrowncolour organic woad today and just had to pinch myself! I’ve been naturally dyeing textiles for years but never with my own British, organic, @northernenglandfibreshed crop. It’s incredible, and at the same time, because woad challenges the global obsession with growth at all costs, this colour also requires some deconditioning. I’d describe our woad as slow, difficult and expensive, and I’m quite proud of the fact that we’re not trying to compete with artificially cheap fossil fuel dyes or colours produced using a low-waged or enslaved workforce. Imagine, Europeans were quite happy with their native blue until Vasco de Gama opened the trade route around the Cape of Good Hope. Soon after, an indigo plant yielding four times the pigment was ‘discovered’, along with a desire to enslave people and exploit other countries for fashion. How do we come back from this mindset that’s still so prevalent? With this humble blue, we’re revaluing *local* planetary materials and human labour and yes, it’s a weaker, therefore comparatively more expensive pigment because there’s been no social or environmental exploitation involved. Woad has a deep, rich, evocative history in these islands that predates ecocide and colonialism. There’s even speculation that our country’s name and aspects of our cultural identity are intrinsically linked to this special colour. According to the BBC, “As Caesar wrote in his account of the Gallic Wars, “All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue colour, and makes their appearance in battle more terrible.” Such was the effect of their appearance that they became known throughout Europe as the Pretani, a Celtic word meaning the ‘painted’ or the ‘tattooed’ ones. From that, the name Britain was eventually derived.” So, I’m pinching myself because I get to wear and share the story of how I find myself producing British Blue at this weekend’s @medicinefestival I’ll be demonstrating the field to fashion process during my talk on the Soil to Soul stage at 5:15pm this Friday - wearing woad! Justine 💙 #womangrowsjeans #homegrownhomespun @thewilddyery
*UPDATE: SOLD OUT in less than 24hrs! Thank you!* *UPDATE: SOLD OUT in less than 24hrs! Thank you!* Are we the Glastonbury of colour? WOW! Just minutes into opening our online shop and our first batch of kits has very nearly sold out! There’s still time to be one of the first people to wear homegrown British indigo, although be quick as our waiting list far exceeded current stock! Head over to HomegrownColour.co.uk and click SHOP or look for the 🔗 on our profile page. Thanks SO much for your enthusiastic support and patience while we make the next batch! Anyone who doesn’t get one from this drop will be notified when the second is ready. What a thrill to be bringing truly organic colour to market and for so many people to appreciate it! #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
I don’t think either Mark or I expected to becom I don’t think either Mark or I expected to become producers of British Indigo from Organic Woad but here’s a whole acre of our 2023 trial crop in full bloom just a few weeks ago. The photo is overlaid with the logo I designed and hand cut to represent our commitment to traditional crafts and soil health. This year, with an upscale to 4 acres, @markpalmer_organic believes we are the largest commercial growers in the U.K. #smallisbeautiful We’re about to release our limited edition dye kits and due to demand and availability, if you’d like to be in with a chance of working with this historic pigment, comment WAITING LIST below to receive a link to our website where you can join our mailing list. We’ll be in touch soon with the release date of our first batch of kits. I would love to know how long it’s been since Woad pigment was grown organically, without glyphosate or other toxic herbicides and pesticides in the U.K. - perhaps hundreds of years! It’s an incredible thrill to be bringing back such a sacred plant pigment with such a long heritage in the British Isles. Our plant waste even helps power the National Grid thanks to our agroecological farming partner, so our pigment is verified Climate BeneficialTM by @northernenglandfibreshed It’s not an easy path to choose, especially with the climate/weather challenges all farmers have faced this year and our product is still very much in development but it’s creating some beautiful blues that feel so special to wear! #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
Today we soft-launched our ‘British Indigo from Today we soft-launched our ‘British Indigo from Organic Woad’ kits @groundswell_agriculture and made our first momentous sales. Fellow Fibreshedders @southwestenglandfibreshed and @southeastenglandfibreshed did all the hard work organising a very beautiful stand which was a hive of activity all day. It was an honour to display our kits amongst such pioneering work. It was great to show and tell all about the #homegrownhomespun #womangrowsjeans on the Fibreshed stand too and reveal a ‘sky-dye’ T-shirt, straight out of the woad vat. Not everyone had witnessed the magic as indigo transformed from lime green to blue as it hit the air. Thanks to everyone who supported us with their kind words and purchases. It was a memorable day! Thanks for the 📸 Jen @fernhillfibre #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
Our circular logo. I hand cut this out of black ca Our circular logo. I hand cut this out of black card then spent months doing a hundred other designs only to come back to this first one. 😂 The landscape logo that features on our dye kit (previous post) communicates how a leaf turns into a droplet of dye but this works better for social media layouts. What is it saying to you? Circularity? Soil health? Traditional hand crafts? #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
The countdown is on! We’re launching our trail c The countdown is on! We’re launching our trail crop pigment on the @fibresheduk stand @groundswell in less than 2 weeks! Today I designed the labels and ordered the bags. They’ll have woad dyed strips of cotton tying them closed. #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
Posted @withregram • @markpalmer_organic Our woa Posted @withregram • @markpalmer_organic Our woad season has started at last! . After much delay caused by the weather our woad is finally emerging. It had 2.5 inches of rain after drilling but seems to be coming through ok. 🤞 @homegrowncolour @thewilddyery #organicindigo @soilassociation #organicdyes And our 2023 crop is setting seed beautifully. #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
Director of Homegrown Colour Ltd., Mark Palmer was Director of Homegrown Colour Ltd., Mark Palmer was interviewed about our soon to launch Organic British Indigo by the Tree Amble podcast @oxfordrealfarmingconference a couple of weeks ago. He spoke about our business origins on the #HomegrownHomespun project, our successful trial and continuing upscale. #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
Repost via @markpalmer_organic We’re getting the Repost via @markpalmer_organic We’re getting there! #britishindigo #naturaldyes #naturalindigo #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
There’s a shoutout for Homegrown Colour in this There’s a shoutout for Homegrown Colour in this episode of @garmologypodcast Posted @withregram • @garmologypodcast Season premiere! This episode is about the epic task set by Justine Aldersey-Williams of The Wild Dyery and Northern England Fibreshed to create a pair of jeans from seed entirely in the UK. You might think this sounds simple enough, grow some fibres, dye, weave and sew, right? That's what Justine thought when starting out. Listen in to hear the twisty tale of learning many new skills, finding plenty of help, a fair few unexpected problems and what might be the most costly jeans in the UK. You can find Justine on Instagram as @thewilddyery and @northernenglandfibreshed #podcast #garmology #garmologypodcast #fibreshed #northernenglandfibreshed #indigoferatinctoria #indigoextraction #indigo #naturaldye #naturaldyes #linen #flax #patrickgrant #sewingbee #greatbritishsewingbee #ecofashion #sustainablefashion #BIFOW #BritishIndigoFromOrganicWoad #HomegrownColour
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