About Annette, Tinctorium Studios, and Wear Tinctoria

Born and raised between Costa Rica, Portugal, and New England, Annette grew up surrounded by plants and nature. Her obsession with plants and an unexpected introduction to natural dyeing in Thailand in 2018 while doing the Permaculture Design Certificate, was the beginning of Annette's journey into the world of natural dyeing. Just a casual experience of dyeing a dirty white shirt pink with Teak leaves launched her into an Alice-in-Wonderland-style rabbit hole learning everything possible about plant dyes.

 

In 2019 Annette moved back to Portugal, taking advantage of her free time to look for dyeing material in the parks, abandoned lots, and forests of the area. After a worldwide pandemic that forced her to feel at home through local plants, she founded Tinctorium Studio in 2020, a natural dyeing atelier that aims to regenerate the connection between people and plants.

 

With the purpose of raising collective awareness about the plants that surround us, the atelier offers natural dyeing services, teaches natural dyeing workshops, maintains a dyeing garden, and sells naturally dyed products under the label - Wear Tinctoria.

 

The pieces crafted in the studio are made from high-quality second-hand garments, factory deadstock, or from new sustainable sources such as organic cotton and linen. Dyed with spontaneous plants, pruning from neighbors used, or properly cultivated - creating living textiles that encourage curiosity about the plants used.

 

Just because it's natural dyeing doesn't mean it's inherently sustainable. To reduce its environmental impact the studio integrates practices that reduce its environmental impact by working with locally abundant plants foraged responsibly, cultivating the dye garden with permaculture principles, harvesting rain capture, and exclusively using non-toxic mordants. Special attention is also put on composting all organic material used in the studio and reusing/repurposing water before it returns to the garden. Doing the utmost to preserve, respect, and celebrate natural abundance through artisanal dyeing.