Anna
van der Lei
Layers of Blue
Together with Anna-Marie Leppisaari
Blue is the rarest colour in the nature, and in Finland a crop named dyer’s Woad yields non-toxic blue, which could potentially replace industrially usedchemical colours and reduce the water pollution caused by the textile industry. Some of the knits are treated with green ionic solvent, and in these partly dissolvedcellulosic textile fibres are ‘glued’ together. These so called all-cellulose composite materials are fully biobased and biodegradable, with no compatibilizerand, no extra chemicals.
By varying processing conditions material propertiescan be varied from soft and flexible to strong and rigid, from hydrophilic tohydrophobic. All-cellulose composites are ecofriendly, new functional materialswith strong mechanical properties, for example to replace some plastics.


Credits:
Designers Anna-Mari Leppisaari & Anna van der Lei.
Professor TatianaBudtova & PhD student Chen Feng, Aalto University School of Chemical Engi-neering (all-cellulose composite)
Professor Kirsi Niinimäki and team at AaltoUniversity School of Arts Design and Architecture (Dyer’s Woad).
With supportfrom Aalto ChemArts, Aalto University