Shweta Dash PORTFOLIO

I am a Textile Designer and Visual Artist based in Finland.

2021, APPROACHING SALINITY

Dispersed pigment within the textile’s capillary network using salt.

Made at Aalto University.

I have an interdisciplinary practice that studies residual materials through mixed media forms.

My work explores the intersections of art and science through material and practice-based research.

Sinipuu (originally blue dye stuff) + Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), noticable shift in dye colour, experimentation at Aalto CHEMARTS in 2022.

Sinipuu dye extracts combined with various cellulose types and printed on handmade paper to create bio-colored artworks

Types of cellulose: Microcrystalline Cellulose(MCC), Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), Microfibrillar Cellulose (MFC), and Nanofibrillar Cellulose (NFC)

Sinipuu Blue remains the same when mixed with Microfibrillar Cellulose (MFC)

Locally harvested willow bark gives warm reds and browns, lupine brings lime green to blue.

Residual material from extracting natural color from willow bark

Biocolouring on paper with onion peel and chochineal dye extract.

Since patterns and textures are found everywhere, I constantly feel motivated to capture and share them back to the world.

Four-weft Jacquard weaving: four yarns interlaced in a single structure form a swirling pattern.

Inspired by Oil Swirls

Made at Aalto University in 2022

Found in the Ocean, digitally coloured jacquard textile. Two-weft system in black and white fashion yarns, creating a flat double-sided surface. Part of a crude oil-inspired collection at Aalto University, 2022.

Second variation of the woven textile.

At What Cost? Woven textile inspired by the clumping of crude oil droplets and the book Oil, Power and War.

Back of the woven textile.

Two meters wide before steaming, the black Baktron yarn shrinks dramatically, creating texture and depth in the final textile.

Original white textile, woven in white fashion yarn and black Baktron, post-steaming, pre-digital printing.

Seaweed as inspiration for texture and colour.

Mimicking seaweed using melting base with black pigment dye on recycled textile.

I am deeply inspired with textiles and materials as cultural forms of expression.

Repurposed reactive dyes from the Textile Printing Lab at Aalto University, expired for Epson printers but perfectly usable as painting or dyeing pigments.

An art installation crafted from recycled materials such as water-based wall paints, used plastic covers with reactive dye residues, and leftover salt.

Salt and Water on recycled cardboard.

Paper yarns used for salt experiments and weaving.

The artworks were made during a three month winter residency in 2025.

Open Studios Exhibition at HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme in Suomenlinna.

Credits:

Photography credits: Cambria Sinclair, Yu-Chen Lin and Siavash Minaravesh