Tyrian Ventures

Tyrian purple is a reddish-purple natural dye secreted by several species of predatory sea snails. In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labour, and as a result, the dye was highly valued.

Perkin's mauve was one of the first synthetic dyes. It was discovered serendipitously by William Henry Perkin in 1856 while he was attempting to synthesise the phytochemical quinine for the treatment of malaria. It is also among the first chemical dyes to have been mass-produced.