Mexican designer Moisés Hernández replaced "toxic" synthetic paints with a pre-hispanic dye made from insects to create his vibrant Grana chairs.
The simple maple wood seats get their colour from being immersed in a mixture of hot water and a pigment made from dried and pulverised cochineal bugs, a technique that was used to dye fabrics in Mexico for thousands of years.
Hernández created an all-pink and a multicoloured Grana chair
Hernández adapted the technique for use in furniture, experimenting with different water temperatures and using acidic or alkaline additives to create six different colours, ranging from bright red and orange to purple and pink.
The result is a duo of chairs ? one incorporating all six dyes and the other a bright magenta ? that hope to show how local and traditional craftsmanship can contribute to a more sustainable future. The wood is coloured using cochineal dye
"Synthetic paints and dyes have helped the furniture industry to fulfil massive worldwide product demand but unfortunately, some of them are extremely toxic for the environment and humans," Hernández told Dezeen.
"There are some new and innovative technologies that are transforming the industry but ancestral techniques can represent another approach for a promising future."
Hernández dyed each element of the chair a different colours
Use of cochineal dye in Mexico goes as far back as 2000 BCE when indigenous people in the state of Oaxaca started to cul...