Industrial Aesthetics of Return to Nature" in LOHAS Dyeing (around 2007)

Industrial Aesthetics of Return to Nature" in LOHAS Dyeing (around 2007)

In the mid-2000s, the term "LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability)" began to spread in Japanese society as a symbol of a new lifestyle. After the collapse of the bubble economy, people were seeking to break away from "mass production and mass disposal," and a trend was emerging that emphasized health, the environment, and spiritual richness. In these times, the "LOHAS dyeing" developed by Tsukin Kogyo of Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, was truly a symbolic experiment.

This technology dyes textiles by extracting natural dyes from food waste. The raw materials are usually discarded by-products, such as soybean meal, azuki beans, chestnuts, and tea leaves. These are converted into dyes using a proprietary extraction technology to reproduce natural tints without relying on chemicals. Another innovation was the establishment of a "cyclical process" that reuses the waste produced in the dyeing process as fuel.

At the time, the textile industry was struggling due to price competition with China and Southeast Asia, and the Japanese dyeing industry was shrinking. Against this backdrop, Tsujikin Kogyo decided not to pursue "low-cost mass production," but rather "sustainable dyeing that makes the most of local resources and natural beauty. This was not simply a technological innovation, but a "shift in the aesthetics of manufacturing.

The "mottainai" spirit of the Edo period (1603-1868) is at the root of this LOHAS dyeing. In the past, Japanese culture had a tradition of using scraps of plants, trees, and foodstuffs for dyeing and crafting without wasting them. The attempt of Iyakin Kogyo was to combine this tradition with modern industrial technology and sublimate the cycle of nature into design.

Corporate advertisements and exhibitions of the time broke down the impression that "eco = inorganic," and spoke of the idea that warm "natural colors" would bring back the human senses. These ideas would later lead to "sustainable fashion" and "local resource design. In other words, LOHAS dyeing was the starting point for the "fusion of environment and beauty" in Japan in the 2000s, and an attempt to bring back the "sense of natural beauty" to the industrial world.