Join us at RMIT Brunswick Campus Dye Garden for a long table session uniting all who are enthusiastic about cultivating plants and sharing natural dyeing methods.

The ‘Sharing Natural Dye Knowledges Long Table’ will bring together students and community members to share and discuss dye plants, natural dyeing techniques, materials, sampling, and process journals.

This event will celebrate and highlight the value of local and community knowledges for plant-based dyeing. Featuring an invited panel of natural dye experts and enthusiasts, the session fosters an interactive discussion about growing dye plants, dye techniques, and maintaining dye journals. The Long Table becomes a space for collectively sharing and showcasing design process, and growing understanding of creative and responsible relationships with plants and Country.

All attendees are encouraged to bring along and share their natural dye stories, samples, journals and artefacts contributing to the collaborative exchange of ideas and experiences.

Growing Waa Weelum: People, Plants, Place

Growing Waa Weelum is a project workshop series run through RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles. The series is led by textile and dye specialist Verity Prideaux, fashion and place academic Dr Tarryn Handcock, and Cathy Doe (Irukandji) Reconciliation Advisor for the College of Design & Social Context at RMIT, with philanthropic support from the Verdnik Family.

Growing Waa Weelum: People, Plants, Place aims to provide space for sharing, growing and generating creative, community, and cross-cultural approaches through fashion and textiles, in relationship with the on-site dye garden at RMIT Brunswick campus.

Special Guests

Dani Andrée - Dani is a Melbourne-based artist, and Masters by Research candidate at RMIT University. She is an expert in textile print and construction and has undertaken extensive plant-based dye, ink, and print medium development. Her current research explores ways of interacting with plant life through creating dialogical relations between plant growth and artistic action.
Celina Kanae Samarakoon - Celina is a sustainability and natural dye specialist with an in-depth knowledge of traditional cultural design approaches and textile techniques. She is the founder of Child of Society, a brand that champions zero waste, genderless and age-less design, and showcases her Japanese and Sri Lankan heritage.
Eamonn Briggs - Eamonn is an RMIT Bachelor of Fashion (Design) student whose work integrates ethical foraging for natural plant dyes. Their work focuses on developing curated digital environments, garments and assets using real world material knowledge. Eamonn's practice explores how fashion can be a medium to change our values by slowly building of relationships with the natural world surrounding us.

This event is running as part of the Melbourne Design Week 2024 program.

DETAILS

Participants: The event is for interested local community, designers, researchers, educators and students. There is appeal across fashion and textiles fields, surface pattern design, gardening community groups, circular design, process design, localism, foragers, design commons. While anyone is welcome, children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult at all times.

What to bring: Bring your own natural dye stories, samples, journals and artefacts to show as part of shared long table discussion.

Accessibility: Event activities will take place outdoors in the dye garden (weather permitting) and indoor event spaces; these are wheelchair accessible. There are wheelchair accessible parking spaces on campus. Please advise the organisers of any accessibility or accommodation needs in advance.

Recording: Please note there will be photos taken to record the event.