JOFRID – The beautiful shades of waste
Do you know what colours are created from the waste of almond shells and orange peels? IKEA tried a new natural dyeing technique which is more sustainable for the environment and creates earthy and blueish shades. Learn why the JOFRID curtains, throws and cushion covers are only the beginning.
The series of curtains, throws and cushion covers are part of a pioneering project for dyeing textiles using agricultural waste from fruit orchards and herb industries. Almond shells, orange peels and stems from rosemary plants – that would otherwise be thrown away – are ground into various colour pigment powders and mixed for different shades. Material expert, Catherine Larsson, specialising in textiles and dyes at IKEA, heard about the new method and wanted to try it.
“Textile dyes are usually oil-based, but the dye we use for JOFRID is instead based on completely natural and renewable resources that look like and function in the same way as chemical dyes,” says Catherine.
The method stems from harnessing the planet’s resources in ways that are more efficient and more sustainable for the environment.
“We want to revive an older tradition when people didn’t let anything go to waste and were very inventive when it came to recycling and reusing what nature has provided”, says Catherine.
Catherine has a long list of figures that show the benefits of the new method. The figures show great reductions in negative impacts on the climate, human health and our natural resources ? among other things due to the fact that greenhouse gas emissions are lower during manufacturing and transport.
Not only is JOFRID making good use out of waste. During the dyeing process 64 percent of the water and 74 percent of the energy per kilo of fabric are saved compared to more conventional dyeing processes.
The use of agricultural waste to create dyes is one example of how IKEA is working together with partners to innovate textile dyeing techniques, to make the process more sustainable.
“Working with new materials, in this case dye stuff, is of course always interesting and a challenge as it require new knowledge about the colours characteristic. For example how they react in wet and dry conditions. For me it has been great to be a part of developing this new range, a collection with high focus on quality and sustainability,” says Isabel Lundahl, product developer for the JOFRID range.
JOFRID will be in store globally spring 2018.
