Indigo dyeing Part I — l’Occitanie
The first Biaude I had was a beautiful collarless button-up in a medium-tone faded indigo. It was fascinating to see a garment that was hand made 100 years ago. The fabric was intact and it had an amazing patina. Little did I know this would be a future project. As the idea developed, I started looking into indigo dye. Found Michel Garcia’s beautiful online videos, featuring slow-paced explanations set in picturesque countryside setups, filmed in a good old-fashioned 90s VHS style. Diving deeper, I found some controversial opinions about this method and decided to explore further.
The first indigo I tried was suspected of being spiked. I took it to a chemistry lab at the Polytechnic University to compare it with another sample I had purchased from a reliable source. The production of my Biaudes was done using the highest quality, 100% natural indigo from Tamil Nadu.
It was tragi-comic to roll the first test on the roof of our building in Amsterdam. I used far too much calcium hydroxide and ended up burning a few fingers. The tips of my ring fingers on both hands still have a slight numbness. Clearly, I needed someone to teach me how to dye.
Time was passing quickly in the summer of 2022, and I needed to find a quality indigo masterclass. The stakes were high — I aimed to manually dye 100 meters of linen. When I approached people in my search for knowledge, they were skeptical of my goals. Undertaking this industrial task as a beginner seemed impossible.
Later on, I found David, a well-acclaimed maître teinturier in southern France, who was starting a week-long course in l’Occitanie. Signing up was really smooth, and I quickly jumped on a plane for an amazing experience. It felt incredible to be in the Occitanie countryside, staying in an old house and attending to the vats in the greenhouse every day.