More and more interior designers dip into the paint pot again
12 May 2010 – Over the centuries, a host of learned men have occupied themselves with the theme of colour, among them Leonardo da Vinci, whose colour doctrine was based on what he actually saw; Isaac Newton, whose analysis of light was facilitated by a prism and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who created the bases for colour psychology.
(Picture: Sigrid Geske)
(Picture: Axel Venn)
Designer Axel Venn adopts a different approach. His ‘Farbwörterbuch’ (Dictionary of Colour), which has been on sale since February, focuses on colour as an instrument of expression. With the aid of 49 human test subjects, who prepared mood pictures, Venn has translated 360 adjectives, such as ‘expensive’, ‘sweet’ and ‘paradisial’ into the ‘colour’ meta language. The result is a sophisticated reference work for designers, creators and interior architects.
But leaving the various approaches aside, the theme is extremely extensive from a totally different viewpoint. We have eight to ten million nuances available to us to create our living environment, although we rarely use more than a tiny fraction of this palette.
Venn, Professor for Colour Design and Trendscouting at the University of Applied Science and Art in Hildesheim, explains this behaviour thus: “Colour is a gamble because it says something about our soul.”
However, those who are, as Venn puts it, afraid of colour are visibly declining in number. Lately, many of us are revamping our homes with coloured walls and gaudy accessories, curtains and cushions for example, daring to make a statement about ourselves. This allows interior designers to dip into the paint pot.
According to Klaus Michel, Professor of Interior Architecture at Burg Giebichenstein: “Colour makes people dizzy. The larger the area the more powerful the impact and interior architects have actively been making use of this in recent years.”
There’s no denying that the ever increasing use of colour is a trend but when and how much colourfulness comes into play is another question. In this context, interior architect Sibylle von Heyden says: “In my first designs, colours were not yet a theme. I also liberated myself from trends and colour psychology, preferring to investigate spatiality, the environs of a property and the customer’s requirements.“ Certainly, the various approaches are individual and different for each project. But when Michel says: “Colour is the salt in the interior design soup”, he is definitely has a point.
