The magic of colors

Colors make our homes more beautiful. They make our clothes more stylish. And colors are indispensable for art. But what looks beautiful can also be toxic: Many colors contain substances like mercury, lead, or chromium.

The production of colors pollutes soil and water. Toxins can get onto our skin via our clothing. Textile dyeing has a particularly devastating impact in Asia. In countries like Bangladesh, China, and India, wastewater is often discharged into rivers without being filtered. "Basically, the textile industry dumps all its waste into the river,” says biologist Jim Ajioka.

Along with his colleague Orr Yarkoni, Jim Ajioka has founded a start-up in Cambridge, England. Their aim is to revolutionize the textile market. "Our vision is to completely eliminate the use of toxic chemicals,” he says. To achieve this, the visionaries are relying on biological processes and microbes that can dye fabrics.

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