Colour Lab: A Year in the Field - A Seasonal Colour Workshop Series

Four seasonal workshops at a working Walthamstow flower farm. Natural dyes, botanical inks, lake pigments. One colour wheel and research publication. All four seasons.

Following our sold-out session at London Design Festival 2025, Colour Lab by Colour of Saying is expanding to a full year.

One farm. Four seasons. A single colour wheel belonging entirely to this place.

Each session reads the landscape for what it offers that season, foraging for plant material, extracting natural dyes, making lake pigments and botanical inks, and building a shared understanding of how colour is made, not just chosen.

Led by colour researcher and forecaster Laura Perryman (founder of Colour of Saying, author of The Colour Bible) in collaboration with natural dye designer Amber Fry (CSM BA Textile Design, 2025), whose graduate practice centres on soil-to-soil colour systems grown from her own allotment.

Across the year, every swatch, extraction note, and pigment sample contributes to a collective Place Colour Wheel, a physical document and research publication of one working farm's full chromatic range through one growing year. No two editions will ever be the same.

*****The Place Colour Wheel and limited Edition Publication is exclusive to full-year ticket holders.******

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SPRING - Natural Dyes & Botanical Ink Painting / Saturday 25 April 2026 1pm-4pm. Meet at the gate 12:30 PM.
The farm in late April: acid greens, blush whites, peaches, light greys, the yellow-green of unfurling nettles. Freshly foraged plant extraction, water-based inks, hand-painting onto textiles, mordanting with alum. Pale palette intelligence.

SUMMER - Lake Pigments & Solar Colour Printing / Saturday 11 July 2026 2.30pm-6pm Meet at the gate 2:00 PM.
The farm at full bloom: dahlias, marigolds, cornflowers, chamomile. Natural dye baths, buddle dyeing, solar colour prints, lake pigment making, simultaneous contrast. The most technically rich session of the year.

AUTUMN - Tannins & Natural Ink Making / Saturday 19th September 2026 (London Design Festival 2026 weekend) 3.30pm-7pm Meet at the gate 3:00 PM.
Tannin-rich materials at their peak: rosehips, elderberries, oak galls, walnut husks, foraged barks and leaves. Iron gall inks, tannin dye baths, berry lake pigments and gradient dyeing with dip dyeing. Colour as memory and transition.

WINTER - Bark, Berry & Plant Dyes with Modification  / Saturday 21 November 2026 1pm-4pm. Meet at the gate 12:30 PM.
Colour in apparent absence: bare stems, lichen, frost blue, soil tones. Cold extraction, root-based dyes (madder, weld), dried plant dyes, botanical printing on paper and fabric. Final contributions to the year's Place Colour Wheel.

Spring & Winter Sessions run 1pm-4pm. Meet at the gate 12:30 PM.
Summer Session run 2.30pm-6pm Meet at the gate 2:00 PM.
Autumn Sessions run 3:30 PM — 7:00 PM. Meet at the gate 3:00 PM.

Maximum 20 participants per session.
Location: The London Flower Farmer, Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow E17 7HE.
Meeting point: Douglas Eyre Sports Centre Front Gate

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TICKETING

Individual sessions are available at £65 standard / £52 early bird (3+ weeks in advance) / £35 community rate (neighbours of the farm, students, NHS workers, carers). + booking fees

The full-year ticket (£195 + booking fees) covers all four sessions and is the only way to receive the final limited-edition Place Colour Wheel. Joining details for all four sessions will be sent after purchase.

This event follows the sold-out Colour Lab at London Design Festival 2025 - places will go quickly.

Questions? Contact hello@colourofsaying.com