23th June 2022 – By Promostyl

FINALLY A CLEAN BLACK COLOR !

The color black is everywhere. From our phones to our cars. But black has a dark side. It is often composed of carbon black, a pigment derived from petroleum. Many problems are associated with it, including greenhouse gases. To resolve this problem Living Ink, an American biomaterials startup, has created the new black - Algae Black. Their mission, as described in our conference at the lingerie show, is to use sustainable algae technologies to replace petroleum-based products, such as ink.

To make Algae Black Living Ink uses the by-products of spirulina algae. These are thermally treated transforming them into a black powder, which traps the carbon that has been sealed by the algae during their life. This creates a concentrated carbon-negative pigment that can be used to color ink, plastics, cosmetics and textiles. This black powder is then purified and mixed with a water-based binder to create an ink.

This ink was used to print a guidebook for the city of Boulder, Colorado but also for the design of a t-shirt. Vollebak, a London-based clothing brand, used algae ink to screen-print a t-shirt. She released a first t-shirt in eucalyptus pulp then a second version in hemp. The objective is to use as little energy as possible and above all to leave no residue at the end of its life. Once the garment has reached its shelf life, it biodegrades in the earth for 12 weeks. As for the black pigment, it will remain stable and continue to store atmospheric carbon for hundreds or thousands of years.

Algae Black is bio-based and renewable, reinventing the way color is made while benefiting the environment.