Élitis and LUMA Atelier launch Racines textile collection from Camargue resources

French design house Élitis has collaborated with LUMA Atelier in Arles to create the Racines textile collection, using locally sourced merino wool from Arles and dye plants harvested in the Camargue region. The collection emerged from a meeting between Élitis artistic director Ariane Dalle and LUMA's textile department head Axelle Gisserot. Dalle, who grew up in a Provençal farmhouse in the Camargue, was inspired by her father's agronomic background and the legacy of Luc Hoffmann, who founded a wetland research institute in 1954. The project aligns with LUMA Atelier's bioregional design research, which explores materials like algae, salt, mushrooms, and agricultural waste for applications in construction and industry. LUMA's Le Magasin Électrique building, opened in 2023 in a former railway workshop, showcases these biomaterials: antibacterial door handles made from salt crystals, acoustic panels from sunflower pith and rice straw, and bathroom tiles from local clay quarry waste. The Racines collection involved a slow, trial-and-error dyeing process using plants like Coreopsis, tannin, and chestnut to achieve a palette inspired by the Camargue landscape. Dalle emphasized embracing imperfection and the natural variability of natural dyes. The Camargue, a floodplain around the Rhône delta, attracts 23 million tourists annually and is known for its wild horses, flamingos, and salt flats.