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Pagett, B 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0247-2711,
2025.
Natural dyeing in contemporary UK craft cultures: intra-actions between humans, nature and materials.
PhD, Nottingham Trent University.
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Abstract
When synthetic dyes were developed during the 1850s, they came to dominate the fashion and textile industry, resulting in the decline of natural dyeing. Since then, natural dyeing has seen brief periods of increased activity: during the Arts and Crafts movement (1880 – 1920) and the 1960s/70s counterculture. In recent years, in response to an increased interest in sustainability within the fashion and textile sector and as part of a wider resurgence of craft practice, there has been another revival in natural dyeing. This thesis explores the contemporary practice of natural dyeing in the United Kingdom, from a textile-crafts perspective. The study aims to uncover how and why natural dyeing is being practised within the United Kingdom, to illuminate the intra-actions that occur between humans, nature and materials and to reflect on the impacts of such engagement for craft, textiles and sustainability. A variety of qualitative methods were used including: ethnographic social media research of natural dyeing content; an online survey to understand dyers’ practice, motivations and socio-demographics (with 82 respondents); 11 semi-structured online/telephone interviews with dyeing practitioners; and 3 participatory fieldwork visits to dyers in their gardens, allotments and/or homes. The researcher’s own reflective natural dyeing practice informed the research. Data was analysed thematically.
The theoretical framework is based upon four key components: insights from craft research, which foreground experiential, embodied and tacit forms of knowledge; Ingold’s notions of correspondence and dwelling; new materialist approaches that embrace the agentic capacities of plants and materials; and assemblage thinking.
The findings are divided across four themed chapters. Contemporary Practice in Natural Dyeing discusses features of the online landscape that contemporary practice is situated within and introduces context on how, why and by whom the craft of natural dyeing is currently being practised. Gathering foregrounds practitioners’ experiences of growing and foraging dyestuffs and demonstrates how dyers form a dialogue with the more-than-human and engage in acts of reciprocity and care. Colour looks at the transformation from plant to colour. Dyers’ perceptions of the colours achieved and the elements that influence the emergence of colours are discussed, alongside perspectives on mordanting, making and wearing naturally dyed clothing. Connection, Resistance & Possibility adopts a broader perspective of natural dyeing, highlighting the material and social networks it fosters, the influence of seasonality and weather, challenges around pace and scale and the micro-scale textile systems that dyers form. The four themed chapters feed into a wider discussion on crafting in partnership with the more-than-human and consider how natural dyeing (re)connects practitioners to nature’s rhythms, supports socio-ecological change and contributes to sustainability within and beyond fashion and textiles. Natural dyeing is positioned as a countercultural practice, and this thesis highlights how working seasonally, locally and slowly offers alternative ways of organising work and fosters values that challenge growth-centric paradigms and align with degrowth and post-growth futures
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Creators: | Pagett, B. |
| Contributors: | Name Role NTU ID ORCID Kidwell, J. Thesis supervisor ART3KIDWEJ UNSPECIFIED |
| Date: | July 2025 |
| Rights: | The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author. |
| Divisions: | Schools > Nottingham School of Art & Design |
| Record created by: | Laura Borcherds |
| Date Added: | 18 Feb 2026 17:19 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Feb 2026 17:19 |
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55302 |
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