Design Map · Eindhoven
Buried Colors
Graduation project by Amaya De Yavorsky at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘Buried Colors’ is an ongoing design research project documenting traditional mud dye techniques across regions of the world, exploring how traditional knowledge can be approached through research and exchange. Developed through skill sharing with artisans in five villages in Indonesia and Thailand, the project records knowledge, histories and ways of working around a little-documented practice that is at risk of disappearing due to the expansion of industrial production. The project explores relationships between people, materials, landscapes, culture and time. It asks how knowledge is transmitted, how it adapts, and how these relationships might contribute to its continuity through respectful and reciprocal forms of exchange. The research takes the form of a publication bringing together photography, texts, documentation of techniques and material samples. ‘Buried Colors’ aims to build long-term collaborative relationships with artisans through research, exhibitions, design proposals and projects that can foster connections between mud dye practitioners and create opportunities generating value for all.