Living Colours

Buro Belén is an Amsterdam-based design studio founded by Brecht Duijf and Lenneke Langenhuijsen. Belén centres its practice on material research, particularly in the field of textiles, fabrics and wearables. It incorporates holistic ideas of space and material into product development, often in collaboration with scientists and research institutes.

Though ‘natural’ dyeing techniques are often better for the environment than industrial ones, natural colours tend to fade and lose colour quickly. Belén decided to embrace discolouration by researching its mechanisms as they manifest with different plant-based dyes, fabrics, and papers; the result was Living Colours. Belén designed a line of unique objects using these dyes: for example, a carpet that slowly discolours over time and curtains with a slowly emerging pattern. By upending traditional notions of which dyes correspond best to which material as well as celebrating the results of unorthodox dyeing techniques, Belén has shown that ageing is desirable in textiles.