While the use of food-based dyes has been a practice seen as far back as a millennia ago, today there is a new take on that idea.

Hong Kong based KaCaMa Design Lab specializes in reusing post-consumer waste materials, i.e., left-overs from our tasty meals. Their goal is to not only to “delight people’s lives and instill eco-awareness to the users of their products, but to establish connections between local enterprises and artisans, and to bring together varying local cultures.” Their Colour of Waste line was inspired by the idea that spills on our clothing from organic matter make permanent changes to the fabric. As a consumer who has stained plenty of tops while drinking, the simple idea of turning an accident into a purposeful piece of design is exciting.

Using pseudo-intravenous bags filled with left-over foods, the dye is attached to the fabric and different patterns begin forming.

The way the dyes react naturally with the cloth yields a beautiful and varied design that shows the artists only have so much control of the process

You can view more of the KaCaMa products and processes on their website here.