Colorifix

We're on a podcast! 💥 And not just any podcast. Our co-founder and CSO Jim Ajioka joins the brilliant Brooke Roberts-Islam and Helene Steiner to discuss the challenges of textile innovation and struggles (!) of changing the fashion industry for the better - moderated by Mili John Tharakan. The perfect summer listen to learn more about the people and start-ups working to change one of the largest industries in the world. And get excited to join us on the journey. We need all the help we can get, to say the least. Listen where you get your podcast but here's a link to YouTube https://lnkd.in/eUjwa-Hy

Today, our co-founder and CEO Orr Yarkoni was awarded The Princess Royal Silver medal by Royal Academy of Engineering which recognises an outstanding and demonstrated personal contribution to UK engineering. Colorifix was born out of the environmental devastation witnessed on the ground of textile effluents in Bangladesh and Nepal by our founders Orr and Jim. They realised that there has to be a way to create colour and put it on fabric the same way nature does, without harming our planet and its people. It has taken them on a decade-long journey to make that idea real and working. A day to celebrate all the hard work achieved and to get excited for all the hard work still ahead! 💙

How is DNA sequencing being used to revolutionise the dyeing industry? 🔬🌈 The dyeing industry is one of the largest water consumers in the world, using over 5 trillion litres annually* and relying on petrochemical dyes and toxic chemicals, which are often dumped into rivers and lakes, causing severe pollution. To address these environmental challenges, our innovator Colorifix uses DNA sequencing of nature's own colours to create sustainable dyes, reducing the use of water and harmful chemicals! Their process begins by identifying the desired colour from nature. They then construct the DNA sequence responsible for that pigment and introduce it into a Colorifix microbe. The microbe, using the new genetic instructions, produces the pigment naturally, and is cultivated in a fermentor. This mixture is then used to dye fabrics directly, requiring fewer rinses than synthetic dyes and eliminating the need for additional specialised equipment or toxic chemicals. This innovative dyeing process, not only avoids toxic chemicals and heavy metals but does so while reducing water consumption by 77% compared to conventional dyeing for polycotton! Learn more about the innovator’s story, technology, challenges and successes and see how the innovation is driving tangible change in the industry. Read the full interview with Colorifix at https://lnkd.in/eVnExvGV #innovation #sustainability #sustainablefashion #goodfashionjourney #dyeing #sustainabledyeing Video Credit: Colorifix *CORDIS. "Project 873840 Reporting." European Commission, 2023.

At a biotech scale-up, progress is part of our day-to-day, but some days are definitely bigger than others. We are beyond proud of the massive team effort in getting this milestone in place. We are happy to announce that Colorifix is now ISO 9001 certified by BSI under certificate number FS 792665. Special shoutout to Tatiana Petrova, our quality star (literally), we know it’s not easy but you make it look very effortless. Well done team!

The good news is: we have a solution. And now we need you! We are looking for some great people to join our team and the thrilling journey to make fashion less toxic and the planet a better place. We need the best Administrative Assistant, Health and Safety Officer, Head of Informatics and Business Development Lead out there 🚀 Are you looking for a new challenge? Or do you know someone? Check out our career page and please reach out, we are looking forward to hearing from you https://lnkd.in/gUH_hfc

Clip from this week’s episode with Nora Eslander at Colorifix about their innovative work in biological dyes made from nature. We discuss how regulation and investment can help material innovators move the industry forward and the potential business opportunity for investing early. Learn more in this episode on Spotify and Apple! #MaterialInnovation #BusinessOpportunity #SustainableInvesting

If there’s anything we like more than working with our process, it’s talking about it and since we are so passionate about what we do - we want to make sure everyone else is too. So when we're asked how it works, often with excitement or scepticism, we try to make it very simple. Here’s a breakdown of our process, the first entirely biological process to create, deposit and fix pigment onto textiles. Replacing all toxic chemicals and significantly lowering the overall impact of processing textiles. Which is much needed, just trust us on this. But if you want the slightly longer version - ask any of our scientists. If you want the longest version, ask our co-founder Jim. 🐝 💜 🌱

"But then we hit a wall, and the wall is that you can’t incrementally make something bad less bad and be proud of that. You have to aim for what is good. You have to create the future you want to live in and that is an innovation and a creativity challenge.“ Hannah Jones, CEO The Earthshot Prize. The other week, we had the pleasure of attending The Mills Fabrica's launch of their latest exhibition "Planet-Saving Innovations", focusing on how innovation can help reduce planetary pressures and the support needed for these innovations to achieve scalable impact. Thank you to the team at The Mills Fabrica for including us, to our partners over at Albini Group and The Earthshot Prize for important discussions on how we will and can change this. Let's continue to break the wall - and aim for what's good. 💥

Thank you GRST for keeping us charged, in a non-toxic way! ⚡ Even if our team is usually having a lot of fun, we will admit this made them smile even bigger. We're proud to be working side-by-side with these insanely important innovators to make the world a little less toxic and a whole lot better. 💚

Few things get us more excited than growing our pigments. Well, that would be growing our team! 🔬 💙 We are now looking for a passionate fermentation scientist to join our stellar team in Norwich and our journey to make textile dyeing better. Read more about the role and how to apply on the link below. Or maybe you know someone? That knows someone? We look forward to hearing from you! #hiring #fermentationscientist #fermentation #Norwich #NorwichResearchPark