Jesus Ciriza Larraona - SPAIN

Jesús Ciriza Larraona has dedicated his career to finding optimal ways to dye textiles naturally and ecologically. In 1993, he founded The Colors of Nature, a company in India dedicated to taking to scale, the manufacturing of natural dyes with an ecological dyeing method. Water-saving in The Colors of Nature is a priority, so the water they use is never thrown away, they have used it for several years reducing the environmental impact on their environment. In his atelier in Auroville, in Southeast India, other colors besides indigo are also available, they are obtained from flowers, fruits, and bark extracts. Jesus’s company dyes garments for manufacturers around the world - such as the emblematic jeans 501 of Levis - and even his own line of handmade fabrics for clothes and home textiles. Jesus has researched the traditional dyes of India to uncover the ancestral art of dying, discovering, for example, a kind of indigo that is more than 7000 years old or reaching the technique of Turkish red that is achieved from alum. The biggest challenge for this Spaniard in India is to cultivate indigo in his own land, to be self-sustaining and to grow in harmony with collectors and dyers who can see in this craft a bright future.