French textile designer and natural dyeing expert Maïté Oucèni, who was resident at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in 2022 in partnership with the Ethical Fashion Initiative and the Carla Fendi Foundation, lead a natural dyeing workshop during the Festival dei Due Mondi 2023 in collaboration with Cecilia Ceccherini and as part of our ongoing Materia program.

Combining traditional and contemporary eco-sustainable techniques, participants in the workshop learnt about natural dyeing methods using plants and minerals. Working with Indigo they dyed their own clothes as well as a quantity of wool which will be used by Ceccherini to weave a large scale tapestry for her project with geographer Dr. Alberto Valz Gris UMRU: Fragments from the Hydrosocial Cycle of the Valle Umbra, to be presented at the Festival dei Due Mondi 2024.