Aurelie Fontan
Fostering biodiversity to create natural dyes for more sustainable fashion
Project
Osmose Studio
URL
Location
East Midlands
Theme
Design
Fostering biodiversity to create natural dyes for more sustainable fashion
Aurelie Fontan founded Osmose Studio after studying circular manufacturing processes for couture fashion. She learnt that synthetic dyes contribute to global water pollution and carbon emissions, but it can be hard to switch to natural dyes.
One of the biggest barriers is land scarcity. Many areas of land in the UK have been polluted by industrial activities, resulting in the nutrient depletion of soils. Aurelie began exploring ways to clean the soil and foster biodiversity, which would help her to obtain natural pigments for textile dying.
Aurelie has now developed her concept to technology readiness level (TRL) 3. With the support of the Young Innovators Next Steps Award, she plans to work with scientists to develop her idea and move up to TRL5, before taking it to the wider market in the UK and EU.
Aurelie describes the connections and networking as the best part of the Young Innovators programme. Her Innovation Growth Specialist’s guidance helped her to secure more funding, putting Osmose one step closer to becoming a driving force of sustainable material innovation.
“The mentoring programme was really useful to be able to raise more funding. I worked very closely with my Innovation Growth Specialist, who was incredibly supportive of my work and my projects,” she says.
