Permacouture Institute is an educational non-profit for regenerative design in fashion and textiles. Working through grassroots projects, events, workshops, and consulting, Permacouture Institute furthers ecoliteracy and social practice encouraging slow fashion and textiles from the ground-up.
Join Permacouture and Your Local Hive for a “Dinner to Dye For” in Los Angeles this Sunday, November 11th, at Peter Fetterman Gallery in Bergamot Station. Seasonal color and cuisine all from the same ingredients of autumn in Southern California. LA friends, we’d love to see you there!
Permacouture was thrilled to host a Dinner to Dye For as part of the first ever Chelsea Fringe, an alternative festival to the Chelsea Flower Show made up of over 100 ‘horticultural happenings’ all over London with such features as the pothole gardener and secret garden wildlife hotels.
The misty morning made for a fragrant dyeing session in the a shady garden of the Hackney City Farm where guests tried their hand at dyeing with elder leaves, queen anne’s lace, rhubarb, onion skins, dock roots and iron. The sun came out in the afternoon for our foraging walk around the perimeter of the farm, and after conversations about rosehips and wild chamomile we returned in time for dinner.
And what a dinner it was. The menu was crafted by Chef Beatrice Ferrante using the dye plants in her cocktails, starters and mains. Finally referencing the earlier rhubarb mordanted fibres, the meal finished with a dessert of cold vanilla and mahlepi rice pudding with baked rhubarb and strawberry compote topped with crumbled pistachio halva. Dinner was served on lovely tableware custom made for the day by Owen Wall using iron and other colorants inspired by the dyeing.
Including the wonderful guests from varied backgrounds, it was an incredible mix of artists, makers and thinkers and we’ll be digesting it for a while.
Flowers and general pinache were provided by Helen Z B Wilson and many thanks to Liz Spencer and Mark Windsor for your indispensable assistance.
-katelyn
Photography by Roman Skyva and Liz Spencer
Images from last Sunday’s Dinner to Dye For in collaboration with Emma Rigby and Here Today Here Tomorrow. We started on Saturday with a foraging expedition in the Hackney woods, looking for nettle and dock root with Bagel the dog. Being the last week in March the best edible dyestuffs to be had were bright young nettle leaves the first outdoor rhubarb and the tender sorrel leaves. We dyed with the roots of sorrel’s wild cousin, broad leafed dock which as many people know can be found growing next to stinging nettle and is an antidote to the sting. I can certainly vouch that this works after last weekend.
Dock root and nettle in the dyepot
Dye samples from dock root, yellow onion skin, mint nettle and rhubarb leaves
The guys at Farm Direct helpfully gave us as much rhubarb leaf as we could carry home. These were boiled down and used as a plant based mordant (If you decide to try this one consult natural dye literature as rhubarb leaves are toxic). That means many of the colours we made on Sunday were 100% from plants which is splendid of course.
In the straw bale room at Hackney City Farm
And then on to dinner… nettle spaetzle, toast with sussex slipcoat cheese with sorrel butter and nettle almond pesto … among other dishes
Tussar silk dyed with onion skins and a rosehip fizz cocktail
Thank you to all our guests who came to dinner, to Hackney City Farm for such an inspiring space and to all the helpers who made it great.
Most of the photographs are courtesy Roman Skyva. To book a space at the Summer Dinner to Dye For in London, email katelyn@permacouture.org
-katelyn
Here it is! Our Spring benefit Dinner to Dye For. Book tickets below.
invites you to
A Dinner to Dye For
a benefit for Permacouture Institute
Saturday, April 9, 2011
5-8pm
Hillside Gardens
Mill Valley, CA
Join us for colorful cocktails, a very special Dinner to Dye For, an exhibition of local and seasonal hues, and a short program about the work of Permacouture Institute, followed by a delicious dessert reception.
Tickets are on a sliding scale of $100-$1,000 and $50 for students.
All proceeds are 100% tax deductible and will go towards the programs and work of Permacouture Institute.
Seating is limited for this exclusive evening.
Please RSVP and purchase tickets through brown paper tickets here.
For questions contact email us at info@permacouture.org or call 415-786-8510.
If you are unable to attend but would like to make a donation to Permacouture Institute you can do so on through our donation webpage.
Permacouture Institute is an educational non-profit for slow fashion and textiles.
To find out more about Permacouture Institute visit Permacouture.org or our blog Permacouture Press. Information about Savory Thymes can be found at savorythymesevents.org.
An urban boutique Dinner to Dye For with the Designers at Here Today, Here Tomorrow.
