Full Description
Circular Colour invites us to look again at the chromatic world: at how colour
is grown, made, shared, and valued.
Through case studies across six material territories -recycled, mineral, planted,
fungi, biological, and structural, this report charts new ways of seeing and
making that honour both living colour sources and pigments recovered from waste.
What if colour came not from extraction but from cultivation? Not from mining
rare earths but from transforming industrial sludge? Not from petrochemical
synthesis but from bacterial fermentation?
Twenty pioneering projects demonstrate these possibilities in practice: bacteria
engineered to produce indigo, contaminated polycarbonate transformed into
iridescent materials, bauxite residue fired into ceramics, mushrooms cultivating
unexpected purples, nanostructures creating colour without pigment.
This expanded edition includes comprehensive material comparison matrices,
impact and scale mapping, emotional qualities frameworks, and 50+ resources for
implementation.
But Circular Colour offers more than specification guidance. It proposes colour
not merely as product but as catalyst - for remediation, for systems change, for
reimagining our relationship with material production.
From seasonal harvest palettes to structural iridescence, from waste-derived
terrazzo to fermentation vats producing any hue, the counter-spectrum is emerging.
This publication maps it, contextualises it, and makes it actionable.
Practical and activating, Circular Colour is essential reading for designers,
brands, material specifiers, researchers, and anyone seeking to understand how
colour production can regenerate rather than extract, heal rather than harm.
Contents
Contents:
Introduction — 2
Themes — 4
Atlas of Colour — 8
01 Recycled Hues — 10
02 Mineral Hues — 22
03 Planted Hues — 34
04 Fungi Hues — 48
05 Biological Hues — 56
06 Structural Colour — 64
Comparison Matrix — 70
Finding your Approach — 72
Lexicon — 74
Resources — 76
About Colour of Saying — 80
Acknowledgements — 81
Information — 82
