Some of the natural dyes we use are imported from overseas (like Indigo). However, we have a small garden where we grow natural dye plants. Some of these include: marigolds, coreopsis, heather flowers, lavender, rosemary, woad, madder, chamomile, pansies, weld and hollyhock. We also pick broom, oxalis, walnut leaves, acorn cupules, olive tree leaves and others from Mani, Laconia.

Collecting plants for Natural Dyeing

All our fabrics and yarns are dyed using Natural Dyes. Botanical dyeing is a slow process, that can be unpredictable and there are often pleasant colour surprises. It takes several hours to extract the natural pigment from plants, sometimes even days!

Natural dyes compliment each other but also look luminescent, and the colour of the fabric changes in different environments, which is something we love.

Christiana started experimenting with natural dyes while in university and fell in love with all the colour possibilities natural materials can produce. Learning about all their benefits, for the environment, our skin and our bodies, she decided to only use Natural Dyes for her practice.

Natural Dyeing

In our Athens based studio we have three looms. One is a back-strap loom from Thailand, one small floor loom and one big floor loom (hand-crafted in Athens).

We usually use 100% cotton warp. We use organic yarns only, that we naturally dye ourselves in our studio. Some of the fibres we use are: silk, cotton, linen, wool and hemp.

We produce small scale items for the home, such as table and bed runners, pillows and placemats and we also take custom orders for bigger projects such as rugs, blankets and throws.

We weave scarves, and you can also find woven details on some of our loungewear.

Christiana started weaving in university (Chelsea College of Arts), but really felt in love with weaving while travelling in Asia. One of her favourite techniques is ikat.

Hand-weaving

Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique which originated in Indonesia.

The applied wax resists the dyes and therefore allows us to colour selectively by dyeing fabric in one colour and then removing the wax. In our practice, this is usually repeated a few times, creating layers with many different colours.

Christiana learnt how to Batik while in Bali. She used it as her main practice in her final year of university.

In our studio we use the original technique with natural dyes, however we also discovered a way to combine the old with the new, the traditional with the modern.

Batik

Taking inspiration from the nature around us we always draw and paint in order to create patterns for our homeware and loungewear collections.

Christiana specialised in Print while in university because of her love for drawing.

Before weaving we always hand draw patterns, our digital prints, our screen-prints, and our batik patterns all come from drawings and paintings.

Hand drawing and painting

Digital Printing is a technique that has revolutionised the print industry for years now. A drawing or painting can be transferred on fabrics very easily and quickly.

It is an environmentally aware process compared to many other traditional printing and dyeing methods because it creates much less waste. However, because of how fast it is to print something nowadays a lot of fabrics are now printed this way and this is helping fast fashion and mass production.

In our studio we believe in the 'Slow movement'. We don't use digital printing as a means of mass production. Everything we print has been hand-drawn or painted, and we only print each design once.

All of our digitally printed products get printed on 100% silk from Soufli, Greece.

Digital Printing

Violetta is our in house pattern-cutter and seamstress. She translates Christiana's sketches and ideas into a functional item or piece of clothing. She also creates all of our machine sewn finished pieces.

Matilda does all the hand-sewing and embroidery.

Sewing & Finishing

Embroidery is a technique we love using for small details.

Christiana learnt traditional H'mong embroidery in Laos, and traditional Red Dao embroidery in Vietnam.

It is probably the most time consuming technique we use. The items listed on our website might have some small detail of embroidery, however it is a technique mostly used for commissioned pieces.

One of our favourites was embroidering three stars on a table runner for a customer. The three stars symbolised the three daughters of the family.

Embroidery