Virginie Lagerbe invites you to dive into the ancestral art of vegetable dyeing on textiles. You will learn how to create your own workshop and design color charts of natural shades from various textile samples, revealing the plant colors hidden in the plants that surround us, while respecting the environment. Lucie Parsons-Chaptal, LA RÉSERVE DES ARTS's leading trainer, will introduce you to Sashiko, the traditional Japanese textile repair technique.

At the end of the training, the trainee will be able to:

• Create their own plant-based color workshop
• Build a bank of dyes according to the seasons
• Prepare different dye recipes that are easily reproducible and environmentally friendly
• Make different shade variations from the same color bath to produce monochromes or changes in shades
• Make dye mixtures
• Create patterns from tannins
• Understand and implement the Sashiko technique for fabrics
• Make a basic pattern and a complex Sashiko pattern on dyed pieces

This training takes place in two stages:

Explore and experiment, over three days, the fundamentals of natural dyeing using plant dyes present on the Campus MaNa estate, under the direction of Virginie Lagerbe, colorist-dyer. Passionate about the colorful essence of nature, Virginie creates unique sensory experiences using bio-sourced materials.

Program for the first three days:

Introduction to plant dyeing on textiles: setting up a personal workshop, creating a palette of natural dyes, ecological practices, acquiring a methodology and creating color charts from various textile samples.
Dyeing techniques: learning environmentally friendly processes such as maceration, decoction and fermentation to extract pigments from surrounding plants.
Exploration of plant dyes: discovery of color variations according to various parameters, revealing timeless and refined harmonies, applicable to architecture, scenography, decoration, design and graphics.

Day 4: Introduction to Sashiko, the traditional Japanese art of textile repair, with Lucie Parsons-Chaptal, LA RÉSERVE DES ARTS reference trainer.

Day 5: Completion of work, restitution of creations and discussions around this week of training.

Course schedule:

3 days of discovery and practice of plant dyeing
1 day of discovery and practice of Sashiko
1 day of finishing and restitution of work carried out during the training

Virginie Lagerbe colorist-dyer and garden alchemist, trainer, speaker

After studying communication and political science, Virginie worked for a long time in the tourist development of her native region, Burgundy. When she began learning natural dyeing techniques out of simple curiosity in 2012, she discovered that plant dyes are everywhere around us, hidden in the roots, bark, wood, leaves or flowers of some very common plants that surround us.

Virginie then had only one desire: to discover the colorful soul hidden in her plant environment. The rendering on dyed fibers was "striking" in beauty, because natural dyes react differently depending on the nature of the fibers. This phenomenon reveals unsuspected, soothing and timeless harmonies that allow us to connect and resonate with the natural space that surrounds us by playing with them. Each plant essence offers a support of hues that scenography and design can enhance for a harmonious extension of the garden to the interiors.

Training: several training and advanced courses in plant dyeing (2012, 2013, 2017), with Magali Bontoux, trainer for Couleur Garance (Qualiopi certified)

Heritage Prize awarded by the Institut de France (2019) to the Royal Abbey of Chaalis (61) for the work carried out in 2018 in the Jardin d’enfance de Colette (Maison des Illustres) in Saint-Sauveur en Puisaye (89) and the innovative approach to gardens by Pérégreen.

Silver Ribbon Award awarded by the jury of the Fête des Plantes at the Domaine de Chantilly (2019)

Creation in 2019 of the textile color chart revealing the colorful soul of the park of the Château de Rosa Bonheur (Maison des Illustres).

Exhibition and installations for the Musée Victor Hugo in Villequier in 2020 (Maison des Illustres) (76), at the Abbey of Boscherville in 2020 (76), at the Château de Martainville in 2021 (76) on the occasion of the Bicentenary of the birth of Flaubert, at the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris in 2023 (75).

Exhibition curator (2022) for the exhibition dedicated to the Rouen botanist-dyer Dambourney (1722-1795) proposed by the Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey (76)

Lucie Parsons-Chaptal

Trainer referenced by LA RÉSERVE DES ARTS

Lucie is a facilitator, trainer and professor specializing in the transmission of know-how related to textiles.

She works in public and private organizations in France, but also in Europe.

Graduated with a Master's degree in creative practice from the Artez school in the Netherlands in 2020 where she specialized in textile repair techniques.

During her final year of her master's degree, she began her activity under the name We Made Together. The mission of We Made Together is to raise awareness and activate citizens and professionals to respond to the challenges of the ecological transition in the textile industry and the social transition. This allows her to channel her activist energy and her desire for change.

In 4 years, We Made Together has raised awareness among more than 800 citizens and professionals with around thirty workshops and courses per year.

Other training: Bachelor's degree in fashion design at the Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer in Brussels (2017), Diplôme Métier d'Art in tapestry at the École Boulle in Paris (2012).

Exhibitions: Jules Verne Dinner in 2018 (Charles Kaisin - Brussels, Belgium), Unfinished in 2020 (Melkfabriek in Arnhem, the Netherlands), United Fashion Festival in 2021 (at the MAD in Brussels, Belgium), Repair Future in 2021 (Utrecht, the Netherlands), Recycle with style in 2022 (Maison des Métiers d'Arts, Liège, Belgium), Royal Playground (Fondation 316, Brussels).

• Collection of coloring materials available at the training location, color workshop, classroom, multipurpose room
• Materials provided
• Teaching distribution: 50% practice, 50% theoretical contributions
• Active participation and experimentation of participants are essential
• Practical exercises and written materials

• Collective and personalized monitoring of work, regular points
• Individual and collective work
• Workshop work
• Self-assessment (assessment of the acquisition of knowledge transmitted, questionnaire)
• Production and acquisition of theoretical and technical contributions
• Collective restitution: experience report at the end of the training (precision and clarity of the oral presentation)
• Sign-in sheet per half-day
• The training is validated by a Campus MaNa certificate.