Nabil Ali

Nabil Ali, a research artist at Cambridge University Botanic Garden who recreates historical recipes for natural inks, paints, and dyes. He talks about seasonal harvesting and medieval workshop practices. He explains practical frameworks for making pigments and demonstrates surprising results like golden ink from Newton’s apple tree and vivid greens and blues from iris.

Nabil Ali, a research artist at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, explores historical recipes for making natural inks, paints, and dyes. He discusses seasonal harvesting and preservation, practical studio methods and testing, transforming Newton’s apple-tree bark into a golden dye, and surprising results like vivid greens from iris and ongoing experiments with hibiscus.