Layers of Meaning

Mauve: The Colour That Changed the World

I didn't read the book - just the cliff-notes version of it, a beautifully illustrated article by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company). The book discusses how the first synthetic dye was invented, using quotes from the inventor: "I was endeavouring to convert an artificial base into the natural alkaloid quinine but my experiment, instead of yielding the colourless quinine, gave a reddish powder. With a desire to understand this particular result, a different base of more simple construction was selected, viz. aniline, and in this case obtained a perfectly black product. This was purified and dried and when digested with spirits of wine gave the mauve dye."

But possibly more interesting is the discussion of the state of the textile dyers' art back then: "The most common animal dye was cochineal, a crimson colour which came from cactus eating insects. 17,000 were needed to produce one single ounce of dye."

Then there was the difficulty in changing the habits of dyers: "Initially dyers didn't want to know at all. They felt they'd been dyeing the clothes in a particular way for hundreds and hundreds of years and they didn't want to get involved in any form of new or technical process. But he had a great time and he, in fact, almost went bankrupt." The invention of synthetic dye was saved when Queen Victoria wore mauve to her daughter’s wedding.

Early dyes often caused the wearer to break out in horrible rashes because of the impurities. The environment suffered - the standard joke being rivers that changed colors daily depending on the dye being manufactured. The article argues that we are not so far gone from that time and place: "And the way things are going, with the sort of problems associated (with the industry), there is a danger that dye will stop being made eventually and that will mean that the population will be running round in unbleached fabrics because you won’t be able to colour anything. The dye manufacturers have transferred their businesses out of Germany and Switzerland to Asia to Third World countries."

American Scientist has a shorter Mauve article online (with few illustrations) that relates invention of alizarin crimson. ABC mentions the synthetic creation of magenta, fuchisa, olive, primrose, violet. It's difficult to imagine how fiber art will respond if the predictions come true and we were to lose out synthetic color.