 Natural Dying with Cochinil, demonstrated by Marisol Centeno. The camera pans across skeins of thread of varying shades of red. American Cochinil, a small parasitic insect, was for centuries the source of the most coveted red pigment in the world. Centeno pours Cochinil bugs out of a glass jar into a small ceramic bowl. Using a pestle and mortar, she grounds the bugs into a fine red powder. For more than 300 years, it was used around the world to impart color on a variety of goods, most commonly textiles. Centeno dunks a piece of white thread into a pot of Cochinil dye on a hot plate in her studio. She ties it to the handle of the pot to soak and stirs it with a pair of tongs. Cochinil was imbued with profound artistic, cultural and economic significance for Indigenous peoples of Mexico and the Indian Highlands of South America. After Indigenous people introduced Europeans to Cochinil, it was transformed into a widely traded global commodity. Cochinil's usage and value declined in the mid-19th century due to the advent of synthetic dyes. Centeno unties the thread and takes the dyed threads out of the pot, letting the excess drain off. Contemporary designers including Marisol Centeno consider the ways in which the insect's red carbonic acid can yield shades ranging from soft pink to deep purple in Cooper Hewitt's exhibition, Nature by Design, Cochinil. A close-up shot of Cochinil dyed threads. Each bundle of thread is labeled with a name and percentage of Cochinil. Learn more about Cochinil in our exhibition Nature by Design on view through January 2, 2022.