Scrapbook

2012-01-27T17:58:00.000-05:00

The Beauty of Blues Go Deep

Martin Cederblad's picture of blue room designed by Swedish stylist and designer, Sara Sjögren.

What is the most commonly stated “favourite colour”? Blue! Not aqua or baby blue but royal blue, indigo, or its more vivid family member that is the colour originally made from Lapis Lazuli. This last colour was, for centuries, the most prized, rare and expensive of hues, literally worth its weight in gold. Only the wealthy could afford this blue, and they used to make artists and artisans sign a contract for how much good blue they would get and where it would be used. Inspectors would make surprise visits to ensure no less expensive blues were being substituted.

In my work as a colour designer, what is the colour my clients most rarely use? Yup, royal blue. The exception is accent walls in a sporty child’s bedroom.

The demise of blue began when blue no longer had to be shipped from exotic and hard to reach places in Afghanistan and laboured over for months to turn into usable pigment. In the mid nineteenth century the chemical industry was producing all sorts of bold new artificial colours. (This made Impressionism possible.) Blue became just one of the many. Van Gogh still thought blue was the divine colour. For Picasso, poor and lonely in turn-of-the-century Paris, it was the colour of sadness and longing – his blue period.

A Yves Klein painting done in his signature colour, IKB, found on postandgrant.co.

French artist Yves Klein invented a recipe for an artificial blue that he thought rivaled the beauty of the natural pigment. So thrilled with the colour he called IKB (International Klein Blue) was he that he took out a patent on it and painted a series of all blue canvases.

Today stores selling china, jewelry and glassware use blue for the displays because blue is the colour of things we cannot touch or hold – water, air, and space – so, psychologically, it says Do Not Touch. In advertising it is the colour most often used by banks because it conveys honesty and trustworthiness. In clothing blue has always been the conservative colour of uniforms, blazers and the easy going denim. It is a way to wear colour without appearing colourful.

So why not on walls?

Naho Kubota's photograph of Jeffrey Inaba’s pop-up café, located in the halls of the Whitney Museum of American Art for the 2010 Biennial, which uses blue light to create a surreal ambiance.

Perhaps it is time to disassociate the colour with sports and see it as van Gogh did – the divine colour - and tap into its unearthly beauty.

In this powder room I used blue wallpaper, blue gloss on the ceiling and the client added a black mirror to complete the surroundings.

Use blue as an alternative to red in a dining room and as a way to expand the dimensions and drama of a powder room. Deep royal blue alters space, blurs the shape and size, and transforms a room into a mysteriously magical world with surrealistic splendor. It can be had without the requiring a king’s ransom!

In this room I used shine on the walls and gold on the ceiling for warmth and drama. I cannot imagine how unpleasant white would be here!

Tips on using indigo: Go all the way. The key is to be submerged in this colour. You are creating a three-dimensional atmosphere – space - not defining an area. No white ceiling and trim!! They interrupt the ambiance.

Blue trim! Painting trim the same colour as the walls or ceiling prevents colour interruption.

Paint the trim the same blue as the walls or a deep colour. Ditto the ceiling. though gold, metallic or mirror finishes are also good because they bounce light and add shimmer. Alternatively, use a second and slightly lighter blue, for example, with a dark blue like PPG Pittsburgh Paints 349-7 Dragonfly on the walls, use PPG 348-5 Shrinking Violet on the ceiling.

Blue Graffiti: This mural in San Francisco has an interesting blue based palette that avoids complementary colours that kill blue’s mood.

Sheen will increase depth and space. Feel free to use satin finish on all surfaces: walls, trim, ceiling. The floor or carpeting can be lighter or brighter, a contrast, a relief.

Pop-up café designed by the Rockwell Group, NYC

Furnish the space with things that are white or bright, have crystal or sparkling surfaces. Metals are good. Expand the palette into magenta and berry colours. Blue is the deep background against which these things play.

Note: Blue is not always cold. It gets warmer as it gets darker. Blues can be warm if you choose one that leans away from the turquoise and green side of the colour wheel and goes toward purple and red where it picks up warm undertones. Try PPG Pittsburgh Paints 347-6 Blue Odyssey, PPG 348-7 Brilliant Blue, or PPG 445-7 Royal Hyacinth from my Coming Home Colour Collection. (Ask for a big chip or a brochure.)

2011-12-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

I Hate Decorating!

A beautiful room is designed not decorated. Decoration means adornment or ornamentation. Design, at its best, is about function handled beautifully. Good design is what Apple products and the humble brown paper bag have in common (note the little serrated top edge that prevents you from getting a paper cut). Nothing is frivolous, every detail is considered and a quiet beauty emerges from function driven form. This is why a beautifully designed room, chair or object will never go out of style while decorated things become dated period pieces.

Charles Eames sofa via Apartment Therapy

If I could afford it, my sofas would be designed by Antonio Citterio or Christian Liaigre and distilled so that design becomes almost invisible, felt as much as seen. Why are so many mid-century furniture pieces by the likes of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen selling as much, if not more, now than when they were designed 80 years ago? It is because they represent aesthetically appealing solutions to everyday functions. No one will bang their knees on a Saarinen table base AND the marble top won’t stain and does not feel cold to the touch because of extra layers of lacquer. The beveled edge adds to the sculptural quality. His Womb Chair is as comfy as a big and beefy armchair but it is nimble, and light enough to turn to the window or pull up to a table rather than staying parked permanently in one spot. Buy well, buy once, and get pleasure forever. Good design is like an expensive bargain.

Eero Saarinen table via Oliver Yaphe

When I do colour, some might think this is surface not function and therefore entirely decorative. I disagree. Good colour is also about feel and function. I don’t decorate with it. I renovate! (In the up and coming weeks I will share with you how colour can be used to adjust scale and proportion to balance a space.) Most importantly, it balances energy levels, making a place feel calm or exciting and everything in between. Colour is about customizing physical space to fit the people. It is not about having fun with bold hits of hue. As Dieter Rams, designer for Braun, put it, “Good design is as little design as possible”. So when the son of a client said he knew I'd used 24 colours in his mum’s condo but he could only see twelve, I asked if it looked good. He said yes. I like to think that that’s good design.

Eero Saarinen wombchair via Style Estate

Suggested viewing on Dieter and the subject we just discussed is the documentary film, Objectified.

Australian House Beautiful for May

2011-04-13T18:22:00.002-04:00

I am in the month's Australian House Beautiful! I did have a good time over there speaking at the Design and Furniture Fair and would go back at the drop of a hat. Especially if I could stop in Fiji again en route. - It is such a hard life having to travel about to share my passion for Colour and Design.

Unhappy Hipsters Great Site!

2010-02-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

Unhappy Hipsters: "Trapped by the tawny palette, he struggled through yet another brown knit scarf.
(Photo: Randi Berez; Dwell, September 2005)"

Graffiti artist Richard Wright wins Turner Prize with Beautifull Wall!

2009-12-09T12:10:00.003-05:00

I love this year's UK Turner Prize winner's gold-leafed wall. Like a Rorschach ink blot Wright's symetricall damask-like pattern invites you to see things in its gold lacey pattern. The shimmering piece fills one wall of an other-wise empty room. Sadly, in true gaffiti fashion, when the exhibition is over it cannot be sold, collected for posterity. It will be buried under a coat of white paint. Sigh.......

Richard Wright: Turner Prize 2009 winner - Telegraph

2009-12-09T12:02:00.000-05:00

Richard Wright: Turner Prize 2009 winner - Telegraph

Rachel Maddow: The right's reckless rhetoric

2009-11-19T09:31:00.002-05:00

Rachel Maddow: The right's reckless rhetoric

Cool Track by my son Blake! Sit back.........and chill.

2009-11-06T09:18:00.001-05:00

Plainsong'88 by Blakely

2009-10-30T13:33:00.001-04:00

2009-10-11T16:17:00.003-04:00

http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_optical_illusions_show_how_we_see.html

Beau Lotto explains how optical illusion is an integral part of colour reality!

This is why, in my opinion, a colour expert is not someone who can always predict exactly how a colour will look but someone who

London Design Week

2009-10-09T13:02:00.007-04:00

............ some of my favourite pieces from London Design Weekfrom a Lebanese furniture company, BOKJA.

upcycling fities, sixties and seventies furniture using new and old fabrics including embroidered Kurdish dresses, fur, and textiles from Tajikistan.

They blur the line between art and design but you actually need an art budget to acquire a piece. The colour and combo's are absolutely amazing!!!

(stay tuned for more PINK picks from London Design Week and 100% Design)

Colour Expert Interview

2009-07-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

Colour Expert Interview

Hiring a Designer: Luxury or Necessity

2009-07-11T15:48:00.000-04:00

Hiring a Designer: Luxury or Necessity

YouTube - Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

2008-12-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

YouTube - Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"