China National Silk Museum Hosts Second Biennale of Natural Dyes Themed, Reproducing Color Palette of the Past

HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China National Silk Museum recently organized the second Biennale of Natural Dyes (BoND) held from October 22 to 26 in Hangzhou, featuring exhibitions, symposiums and workshops.

The event themed, Reproducing Color Palette of the Past, attracted around 100 participants covering a broad spectrum. On the morning of October 22, audiences visited a contemporary BoND art exhibition which showcases 80 pieces of artwork mostly made from natural dyes, in Fashion Gallery of China National Silk Museum. This exhibition highlights the mixture of tradition and innovation- all artworks were produced based on traditional dyeing and printing techniques by artists and artisans, while the artistic expression of the objects is full of modern tastes.

An international symposium with the same theme was held the following day. Thirteen Chinese speakers gave fascinating presentations on natural dyes from several perspectives, including history, art, ethnology and industrialization. Five international speakers from India, UK, Japan, Australia and Nigeria gave their presentations over video link due to the pandemic. Dr. Zhao Feng, the Director of China National Silk Museum remarked in closing: "I am highly impressed by those presentations combining multi-dimensional visions. They made great use of textile objects in the museum that inspire us to properly utilize natural dyes in various distinctive fields."

Natural dyeing and printing workshops have increasingly gained attention since the last BoND. Three workshops, clamp-resist dyeing, block-printing, and patchwork, were all packed out events during the weekend. All trainees adored the workshops, particularly a patchwork workshop which successfully combined needlework with the Qianlong Color Palette (a series of colors reproduced according to Qing Dynasty archives, has been shown in a historical exhibition in Textile Conservation Gallery since the last month). A participating film and television stylist showed off her work – a coin-patterned ornament – and proudly commented: "Our team joined all three workshops and got quite a lot of information about ancient colors and motifs that will be extremely helpful for our designs in costume dramas."

The next BoND will be held in autumn of 2023, which is expected to have even more domestic and oversea participants participating. The search for a theme for the event is already in progress.