Oxman Studio Dyes Silk With E. Coli

The Oxman lab's Vigils project uses bacteria rather than industrial dyes to color a 3D-knitted silk textile.

Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Fashion

Close view of a pale knitted silk textile with fine translucent misting and soft pink and indigo stains spreading through its open lattice against a steel surface. — Neri Oxman's studio is using sprayed E. coli cultures to dye 3D-knitted silk with indigo and pink pigments as an alternative to industrial dyeing. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Neri Oxman's studio developed Vigils, a prototype fabric that uses a sprayed E. coli culture to produce indigo and pink pigments on silk. The bacteria leave amino acids that color the textile, and the fabric is then washed to remove the microbes.

Why it matters

The studio presents the process as a possible alternative to resource-intensive industrial dyeing. The technique offers a biological route to textile color for designers working in New York and beyond.

The fabric incubates for 24 hours while the spray-applied BL21 strain of Escherichia coli forms a living culture that colors the silk. Four capes were created to demonstrate the method, but the project remains a prototype without extensive Life Cycle Assessment.

The players

Neri Oxman

Neri Oxman is a designer and researcher whose Oxman lab develops biologically inspired design projects, and she earned her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The details

A bacterial solution is sprayed onto a 3D-knitted textile containing tussah silk thread coated with bacterially sensitive chemicals. After the culture spreads and leaves amino acids that color the fabric, the textile is washed and dried, removing the bacteria while the pigment remains.

24 hours: fabric incubation while the bacterial culture forms and colors the textile
2024: Neri Oxman opened a New York studio in Midtown Manhattan

Culture Shift

Vigils positions bacterial dyeing as a departure from the chemical industrial dye processes that have long dominated textile manufacturing. Its prototype status means it has not yet displaced those legacy methods in mainstream fashion production.

For New York designers and fashion buyers, Vigils shows a possible path to color textiles without conventional industrial dye baths. The prototype stage means the method is not yet available for everyday garment production.

The takeaway

Biological dyeing methods like Vigils may offer fashion designers a lower-impact option, but independent lifecycle data will determine whether the approach holds up. Designers evaluating new color processes should look for verified environmental assessments before adopting them.