Vegetable Dyes Are a Safe Alternative

We are seeing more and more companies working with vegetable dyes in textiles, area rugs and finishes. Removing this part of the toxic manufacture of these products is commendable.

Those Certified Healthy Interior Designers carry lists of manufacturers that comply to these rigorous standards for better live able interiors.

Aniline dyes, and standard dying methods in the textile and carpet industry account for much of the smell and off gassing in the soft goods product lines. These changes are taking place faster than any of us expected because of the education of the consumer by the Certified Healthy Interior Designer. This is a group of professionals that not only create live able interiors but take the responsibility of proving it with documentation to the consumer. This in itself is not only commendable, but a great step in a process that has never had rigorous demands on its specification phase. Most residential interior designer choose items based on beauty, not on technical specifications. The industry typically does not demand it, and creates many unusable or live able interiors as a result. Add to that a dramatically changing industry of imported goods with little or no governance of ingredients and you end up with the product firestorm that we are now experiencing.

An educated designer realizes that all products have a designated use and performability. Not all products are usable for every situation. Form follows function was terminology used by Sullivan in the early 1900's in describing products demands must match the use. Some residential interior designers do not understand this, and do not bother to learn technical specifications to this day. The customer demand for an educated resource that goes beyond typical design schooling and begins to warranty and document the products being used in the living environment is what Certification of the Healthy Interior Designer is all about.