Indigo is one of the world's oldest and most culturally significant dyes. Across continents and cultures, it has been used to colour textiles, communicate identity, mark social status, record histories and express creativity. More than simply a colour, indigo represents a living system of knowledge, connecting people, materials, landscapes and time.
Today, indigo continues to inspire contemporary fashion, textiles and design through conversations around sustainability, craft, repair, material innovation and cultural heritage.
This project invites you to explore indigo as both a material and a cultural phenomenon through an international collaboration with students from LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore and RMIT in Melbourne in Australia. Working through the COIL framework, you will exchange research, ideas and feedback with students from a different cultural context, developing a deeper understanding of how materials carry meaning across places, communities and histories.
Rather than attempting to replicate another culture's traditions, you are encouraged to investigate indigo and the colour blue through your own experiences, locality and cultural perspective while learning from the rich textile traditions of Southeast Asia.
This project will run from 27th August to 26th November. During this period you will work independently for the majority of the project. There will be hybrid events during the project and details of these will be provided to succesful applicants.
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Updated: Jul 2026
