New sustainable dyes solve two problems

Nidaya Kusmaya, a young textile artist has developed unique dyes extracted from everyday food. She aims to convert the food leftover into useful dyes. In order to create the dye the colour is extracted from the leftover food, the carbohydrates and proteins act as the medium for microorganisms that act as a colour producer.

Nidaya Kusmaya was a part of the Dutch ‘What if’ lab project, where the Dutch and Indonesia designers were challenged to design for sustainable solutions to daily problems.

She stated that she had started experimenting with colours for textiles by utilizing kitchen scarps and the farmer’s market leftovers. She added that the leftover food was an environmental problem and the textile fashion industry was the second most polluting especially in the colouring process.

The designer has proceeded research on methods of converting kitchen waste and other uncommon materials such as micro fungus and bacteria into colorant for textiles that are environmentally friendly. She is also known for traveling around the rural areas in Indonesia to educate and teach the craft to people and enable them to explore new possibilities of natural dyes for textiles.

She believes that fashion is very closely related to everyday lifestyles and by contributing to a sustainable fashion moment a great positive impact can be attained. She concluded by stating that as a designer she could start small, pay attention to details in our everyday life and make it the best version