The Hidden Dye Recipes of the Szabó Textile Laboratory

A tense, fragrant stillness fills the Laboratory, where dyed threads hang motionless and brushes rest mid-stroke. Every jar, thread bundle, and sample implies repetitive routines abruptly halted, leaving the space suspended in preparation and color.

The Dyer’s Method

These implements belonged to János Szabó, textile dyer (b.

1878, Debrecen), trained in a local guild and commissioned for private garments, theater fabrics, and embroidered textiles. His Hungarian annotations indicate plant-based dye proportions, soaking times, and mordant treatments. A folded note references his apprentice, Eszter Szabó, “prepare indigo vats Thursday,” showing a structured workflow of soaking, dyeing, and drying executed with meticulous precision.

Arrangement of Tools and Samples

On the worktable, brushes, measuring spoons, and scissors lie aligned; threads are sorted by fiber type and intended color. Shelves hold jars of powdered and liquid dyes stacked by hue. A half-prepared recipe rests weighted under a small wooden block, reflecting János’s suspended method. Dust collects in folds of cloth and residue on jars, preserving impressions of hands abruptly stilled mid-creation.

Evidence of Disruption

Later notebook entries reveal incomplete dye experiments; some color tests are missing, labels unreadable. Margin notes—“client samples delayed”—are smudged. Brushes, jars, and threads lie scattered; half-dyed skeins rest atop tables. János’s careful routines faltered under declining eyesight and chemical sensitivities, leaving experiments incomplete and laboratory practices indefinitely suspended. Each pinned thread and jar embodies interrupted intention and halted craft.

In the Laboratory’s final drawer, János’s last recipe rests half-annotated, dye tests incomplete, threads unfinished. A penciled instruction—“finish with Eszter”—cuts off abruptly.

No record explains why he abandoned his work, nor why Eszter never returned.

The house remains abandoned, its worktable, dye jars, and recipe sheets a quiet testament to interrupted textile chemistry and unresolved devotion.