About BioChromes
The BioChromes Color Archive: uncovering natural colors
animal . bacterial . botanical . composite . fungal . mineral
BioChromes ColorArchive is a open collection of color and material research, where color plays the primary role, being coloring matter or changing the appearance of matter. All colors documented are natural, bio-based and compostable - they are entirely part of nature's cycles and do not leak any harmful ingredients in the environment. As a way to connect back to our surroundings and nature, BioCCA (BioChromesColorArchive) showcases opportunities and invites all color lovers to take a step back into our heritage knoweldge, to be able to take a step into a biobased & compostable future, acting more closely in sync with nature.
6 natural domains
The 6 natural entry points to activate change, animal - bacterial - botanical - composite - fungal - mineral, firsly invite to explore the vastity of color sources and then serve to form the taxonomy that guides the viewer through the natural realms. If our past and heritage inform us about animal, botanical and mineral color sources, technology today assists un in exploring bacterial alternatives.
Explore the detailed taxonomy here or browse the categories via the icons.
Archives of the Future - Biochromes, BioShades and BioMaterials futures
Values-driven collections
Archives od the Future are cross -project archives created by Cecilia Raspanti to organise her research and knowledge across the years 2011-today. All biochromes studies in the form of samples and photographs are made by Cecilia Raspanti. Along side with BioChromes and the subcollection of BioShades, BioMaterials is the third research line of Archives of the Future. Bio
Who is behind the archive
The BioChromes color archive is a project of Cecilia Raspanti.
Cecilia Raspanti is a creative researcher with a values-driven vision for sustainability and bio-driven futures for textiles, materials and culture creation. Research, color, material fabrication, fabricating of digital tools and equipment, as well as the unveiling of biological processes is at the core of her practice since 2012. By combining her expertise in traditional textiles, digital fabrication, bio-tech and craftsmanship attitude, she leads numerous projects, diverse in form and nature.
TextileLab Amsterdam at Waag FutureLab has been Cecilia's research base since 2015, when it was co-founded by Cecilia and her colleague Ista Boszhard in 2015, building upon the research she had started in 2013 at FabLab Amsterdam, another lab within Waag FutureLab. The lab’s body of research is entirely open source - embodying their vision for open source knowledge, education and demystifying of tech & science.
In 2017 she co-founded Fabricademy: textile and technology academy; a world wide recognized innovation educational program running yearly at trained laboratories across the world, such as TextileLab Amsterdam WaagFutureLab, where Cecilia mentors. Within the program she is also the global lecturer leading the BioChromes and BioFabricating materials modules, where participants of the course learn about natural dyes, bacterial dyes, bioplastics and natural fibers, as well as revaluing materials from urban and systemic waste. Her philosophy is bio driven and 0-waste, fostering circular economy practices and locally enabling value chains.
Her advocacy and expertise for a bio-driven approach stems from a long systemic and hands on research path in natural resources for both colors and materials. To know more - explore some of her work:
- BioChromes (2010/today)
- LocalColor.amsterdam (2022/today) for growing, mapping and extracting of natural dyes in the urban context of the city of Amsterdam; @Waag FutureLab
- BioShades.bio - open source bacterial dyes (2015/today); @Waag FutureLab
- OpenSource MaterialArchive (2015/today) which can be visited at Waag, along many other. @Waag FutureLab
Her background and studies depart from art school, to then orient towards clothing and textiles at Polimoda fashion Institute in Florence, were she studied fashion design, with a deep love for experimental knitwear/textile design. Since 2014 she is involved in a variety of Eu research projects - often investigating the role of TextileLabs, as means for participation and distributed open source research, with roots in TCBL (Textile and clothing business labs) and FabLabs.
a life long research - 2010
Color is at the core of all of Cecilia's activities, as is research, making sense of matter and the world around us. Cecilia started to explore natural dyes in 2010, when nature had stained her ready to dye fabrics after a storm. From there, a never ending fascination and research about natural forms of color took off.
This archive finds its roots in an analog form somewhere at the beginning of 2011, where the first range of color samples, pressed plant matter, fotos and illustrations were catalogued in the "DyeMe" natural color catalogue (consultable on request), and later on were artially incorporated in the "Open Source Material Archive": a material and experimentation Archive of more than 200 samples - another project initiated by Cecilia at @TextileLab Amsterdam Waag and realised in 2016 with researching intern Maria Viftrup under Cecilia's guidance.
BioChromes is a living archive, growing contantly and changing shape as is evolves. The archive is designed and developed by Cecilia to incorporate samples she created across all different projects, personal research projects, projects from TextileLab Amsterdam and her work as global lecturer in Fabricademy since the very beginning of the programme.
The archive is built in collaboration with her amazing life-partner that appreciates his privacy, but deserved (to Cecilia's opinion) due recognition for the incredible work of inspiration, assistance, tireing teaching of coding to an artist & lover that holds italian passion (yeah all of it!from extreme enthusiasm to wild desperation) and dutch planning (and love for color).
use & credits
Printed versions of the archive and the physical samples are possible upon request. Get in touch at @biochromes on instagram, or Cecilia Raspanti on Linkedin. Use of any and every image from the archive is upon request and approval, credits to images and samples are always to Cecilia Raspanti in combination with projects details and organization details.