The colours of our clothes. The local and the global

The exhibition opens on 16 January 2026.

The exhibition presents the story of natural textile dyes in Estonia, from their origins in prehistory to the present day. The focus is on Estonian textile dyeing traditions – the tools and techniques – and their evolution over time. As part of the Colour4CRAFTS project, associated with the exhibition, innovative methods are used to investigate which dyes were used in the past and the trade routes and contacts through which they reached Estonia. Since lasting and bright colours are rare in nature, local customs and far-reaching contacts are closely intertwined in the stories of colour. For example, the vibrant stripes of the traditional Estonian striped skirt, so familiar to locals, were made possible only through the global dye trade.

However, the exhibition does not focus solely on the past, it also extends to today’s society where synthetic dyes make up a large part of the environmental footprint of the modern textile industry. Most of the time, we do not know how or with what the textiles we use every day are dyed. The aim of the Colour4CRAFTS project is to use knowledge gained from historical textile dyes to develop new, more environmentally friendly dyeing technologies. Researching and understanding Estonian cultural heritage thereby helps us tackle today’s pressing problems.
 

Exhibition curators: Riina Rammo, Liis Luhamaa, Kerttu Palginõmm (University of Tartu); Liisi Jääts, Age Raudsepp, Ellen Värv (Estonian National Museum)
Producer: Reet Mark
Designer: Mae Kivilo