Natural dyes & textile creations workshop
Living and vibrant colors from nature
Quality threads, noble materials of natural origin…
A small Norman craft workshop perched on the cliffs, where colors metamorphose as the light changes...
bewitching colors, a fascinating ancestral art, a praise of slowness and patience…
About Garance & Rhubarb
The discovery of Huldufölk, during an incredible trip to Iceland in the heart of raw nature, is probably at the origin of the creation of Garance & Rhubarb. This word meaning “hidden people” designates all the fantastic creatures living in nature apart from humans.
Two of them, eager to travel, slipped discreetly into our luggage. We didn't realize they were there until much later following the mysterious disappearance of some freshly baked chocolate cookies in the kitchen. Seeing no plausible explanation, we concluded that a greedy leprechaun had been there. Mischievous and prankster, he regularly plays tricks on us.
His traveling companion was more difficult to detect. The floods of desires, of sometimes improbable creative ideas, of positive energy, of questions and reflections, which have surged over the last three years have alerted me. It was when I heard her whisper her name to me that everything became clear: “My name is Garance and the cookie eater is Rhubarb."
Two surprising dye plants
Madder
Rhubarb
Rubia tinctorum (dyers'madder) or Rubia cordifolia (Indian madder or heart-leaved), of the family Rubiaceae.
Perennial, creeping or climbing, with long orange-red rhizomes concentrated in alizarin. A bright red dye is extracted from it. Its voluminous and deep roots improve over time. It is harvested after at least 3 years and requires a long drying period before being crushed.
Rheum rhabarbatum L. (Garden rhubarb) or Rheum palmatum L. (Chinese rhubarb), from the Polygonaceae family.
Perennial herbaceous plant with large leaves, fleshy petioles appreciated by gourmands keen on jams and tangy pastries. Its roots contain anthraquinones from which an orange-yellow dye is obtained.
An emblematic plant for vegetable dyeing, it has been a source of inimitable pure reds since Antiquity. Its undeniable major historical importance makes it one of the most esteemed dye plants. For the use of painters, madder lacquer (or madder carmine), known since Roman times, is made.
Native to northwest China and Tibet, where it is found in the wild, it can reach two meters high. Its use as a dye plant is very old, it is the main source of yellow and orange for the Tibetans who use it for monks' outfits and carpets. Unknown in this form in France, it has been cultivated since the 18th century.
Depending on the quantity used, the process used, the cooking time and temperature, madder allows you to obtain numerous shades ranging from salmon pink to red ocher on wool, bright orange on silk, from red to burgundy to eggplant purple, including variations of grey on cotton.
It is a very interesting multifunctional plant which has a better affinity with animal fibers. By soaking them in a decoction of rhizomes, you can obtain a yellow color close to that given by saffron. If its roots produce color, its leaves contain a large quantity of oxalic acid, which makes them toxic, but very useful for 100% vegetable mordanting of wool. Depending on the type of fiber and varying certain parameters, the shades can range from mustard yellow to fawn, including ocher, tangy orange, khakis and browns.
