Color & care design

The main issues raised by the Color & Care Design axis are the development of the polysensoriality of colors in relation to the medicinal virtues of plants and the physiological inclusion of the vibrations of dyed colors. The purpose of this study is to revisit the corpus of the cross-utilization of tinctorial and medicinal plants in different cultures. Within ancient and current traditional practices, certain colorants from plants are used for their curative, protective, cosmetic and aesthetic potential. Based on this knowledge and through a holistic approach, the ambition is to present interdisciplinary research with a goal to develop a range of colors for therapeutic purposes. To highlight the potential of plants, the innovative approach here is to consider the skin as a sensitive or receptive vehicule when combined with textiles. Color and sensory design make it possible to design colors not only in their chromatic dimension but also in their material reality. The colored material and the colorant contain a considerable number of properties that the skin and the body will permeate. Beyond the symbolic dimension from historical or anthropological texts, key questions revolve around the reaction mechanism and activation of plant properties. The chromatic diffusion does not only occur in the vegetable extraction tank, it also occurs in the body. From the plant to the skin, sensory receptors become activated by stimuli through natural dyes and coloring ingredients, thus creating multi-dimensional color for diverse uses. Examples such as indigo plants (Indigofera tinctoria L., Polygonum tinctorium Aiton and Isatis tinctoria L.), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), saffron (Crocus sativus Linn.) or also Boraginaceae plants (Alkanna tinctoria Tausch and Lithospermum erythrorhizon) are the main focus of this project, especially for their known use in dyeing, cosmetic and curative properties around the world.