DECOR TOURS LAUNCHES WOAD TRIP 2018
Expert Instruction in Ancient Dye Technique from Denise Siméon-Lambert
Decor Tours, an interior design experience and educational event company of which I am co-founder, is excited to announce the launch of “Woad Trip,” a four-city tour which brings the ancient woad dye process to the U.S. under the direction of world-renowned French woad expert Denise Siméon-Lambert.
We’ll be holding workshops on the woad dyeing process in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston throughout July 2018. The day-long events will start with an overview on the history of woad and demonstrations, the dipping technique, then the rest of the day will be spent dyeing. Each Woad Trip workshop will be limited to 12 participants, to allow for personal, hands-on instruction.
“We’re thrilled to showcase this ancient French dye process for the U.S. design community. The history and heritage of this color makes the process a truly remarkable experience that is beautiful and, honestly, a lot of fun.”
Woad, a native European plant that produces a blue dye, was prized for centuries, but fell out of use once easier-to-use indigo exports from India became available starting in the 17th century. Siméon-Lambert began researching woad in 1994 and, through patient testing, developed a modern version of the traditional woad vat dyeing. This luminous, ancient blue has since caught the eye of fashion houses such as Dior and Chanel, designers in Japan, museum conservators, and others who admire the color as being distinctly different from indigo.
“Woad is a capricious color—the mineral content of the water, the make-up of the mother vat and many other variables contribute to the final result,” explains Siméon-Lambert. “But it always a blue unlike any other—permanent and magical. I’m very excited to share my modern interpretations of the ancient woad-dyeing techniques.”
A woad-dyeing day has been the grand finale of our annual Provence trip since 2015 and we can’t wait to share it with more creatives in the U.S. Working with Denise has been a fantastic experience for our tour groups. We wanted to give people who can’t travel to Provence with us a chance to see for themselves the alchemy that happens when the items come out of the dye vat green and then transform into blue in the light.”
More details and registration information can be found at decortours.com/woadtrip