Lumi lets you use photosensitive “Inkodye” and the sun to create sheer beauty

If you took a photography class in high school then you may remember photograms or ‘sun prints’. They allowed you to spread a photosensitive material on a piece of paper and imprint the pattern of whatever you placed on top of it using the sun’s rays.

Lumi has taken this concept way beyond, developing a liquid called Inkodye that it uses to create beautiful photographic and patterned designs using fabrics and other materials. The process is simple, requiring only that you spread your dye of choice on a material, then place anything that casts a shadow on top of it.

Leave it in the sun, or expose it to sun-like light, a bit and it develops into a gorgeous design reflecting the materials you’ve used. As a huge fan of photograms (I built a small business printing color versions using an archaic process) I think that this system is amazing.

You can use all kinds of stuff, from negatives to lace to wooden blocks, just about anything that blocks light in some fashion or another. You don’t have to print onto fabric either, wood, metal, just about anything that will take the dye should work.

Lumi has partnered up to offer its own line of furnishings for the home that are created using the process, but they also offer the Inkodye solution for you to purchase, to create your own designs. There is a list of projects for inspiration on the site as well.