MEET THE MAKER
A PASSION FOR BOTANICAL DYES
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Story by Diana Keeler
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Fabric in hand, Silanes assembles and finishes all of her pieces in France, after they undergo the painstaking process of natural dyeing, a product of her ongoing work with famed natural dyer and botanist Michel Garcia. (Garcia offers workshops around the world teaching the practice, including one upcoming summer program that combines a tour of the Loire Valley and Brittany with a study of natural dyes and medieval tapestries.) Silanes met Garcia at a Paris workshop on using natural dyes with wool and silk; she still relies on his studio for raw materials, like rhubarb. 
“There’s also a harmony of colors — with vegetable dyes, the colors always look great together.” She’s now experimenting with silk-screening natural dyes, which offers some of the same benefits. “I’ll use screen printing to achieve more complicated designs,” she says. “With chemical dyes, you’ll have a ‘crust’ on top of the fabric, especially with wool — but again, with natural dyes, the dye goes inside the fiber.” 
Above, left to right: plant-dyed raw silk pillow in rose, textured brown tweed pillow, belgian linen pillow with arabesque print, dip dye wool pillow in blush, puna handwoven ivory pillow, handmade wool shag pillow in blush. Photo: David Chow
Silanes is still exploring, looking for new fabrics to pair with her increasing knowledge of natural dyes, its application techniques, and their possibilities: “I’m excited to develop new products — especially for the kitchen — and discovering new ways to use them,” she says. She’ll also look for inspiration overseas: Perhaps fittingly, Silanes says her work has met with more receptive audiences in the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere in Europe than in her native France. “Here in France, [the reception] is really quite cool,” she says with a laugh. “I think we don’t have the same interest in materials — or maybe we just want IKEA.” |
