The Pantone-inspired bags that appeared in Mango windows in March are but one example of Pantone’s fruitful collaborations with high-street giants. Indeed, for the same season the world-renown colour authority had already teamed up with Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo to produce a series of Pantone-themed t-shirts. The occasion to renew the collaboration for the winter season came yesterday, with the opening of the new Uniqlo flagship store on London’s Oxford Street.The whole store layout is based on colours - the ‘windows’ are right inside, and look more like installations, with garments draped around mannequins in unconventional ways, conveying an idea of colour and texture, rather than of bare and simple wearability. The mannequins are ‘encased’ in glass cylinders, one of which features a big Pantone chromo-wall (much like the one we found in Mango’s).The star product this time is the cashmere line, with crewnecks and cardigans that come in 20 official Pantone hues. “UNIQLO’s innovative retail concepts along with Continue reading ‘Pantone ventures #2′
Iconic publisher Penguin has just re-published 36 works from their catalogue, bringing back to bookstores’ front shelves some of the most interesting titles of contemporary British and American literature.
The new collection comes under the name of Penguin Celebrations and revisites the classic Penguin cover - this time with a different colour for every section. The back cover reads Light Blue for big ideas, Green for mystery, Orange for fantastic fiction, Pink for distant lands, Dark Blue for real lives, Purple for viewpoints.
After a quick research, I’ve come to the conclusion that the colour/theme pairing only tries to assure some continuity with the vintage editions - whereas at first I would have thought there was some kind of hidden symbology in the matching of green and mystery, perhaps, or purple and viewpoints. I personally cannot find any - maybe someone would like to leave a comment sparing their thoughts on the matter. Continue reading ‘Light Blue for big ideas’
Chromophilia loves colours! We have used the idea and researched the meaning and impact of colours on human beings and decided to create a design concept and a collection. Now it is ready!Inicialy this are underwear pieces in organic cotton, close-to- -skin colour- clouds- garments impregnated with COLOURS. There are also some ”one of” pieces of knitwear throws made to order. I love this “one of” part as it gives me freedom to do something I can make according to my feeling for the person that is going to own it!Valentina is preparing downloadable version of the User Manual so watch that space!it’ll be here soon. Contact us if you are interested in the collection…and it is supported by KONSTNÄRSNÄMNDEN, www.konstnarsnamnden.se/
So I finally visited Hélio Oiticica’s retrospective (The body of colour) at the Tate Modern and was happy to find exactly what I was looking for. Full colours on display: first used through the traditional medium of paint on canvas and board, and as Oiticica became more and more interested in the relation between colour and space, the pigments were applied on sculptures (or ‘Spatial reliefs’ as the artist titled them), then on assembled objects and in the shape of colour powder. In the end Oiticica gathered all his experience and came up with the series called Parangolé.
In the exhibition leaflet Ann Gallagher writes: “Oiticica reached a crucial point in his integration of colour, structure, time and space with the Parangolé series: banners, capes and tents constructed from a variety of materials, including fabric, plastic, mats, screens and ropes. He began to develop these flexible colour structures as a result of his involvement with the people of Mangueira Hill, a Rio de Janeiro shanty town, and they encouraged his immersion into the world of traditional Brazilian samba. The Parangolé, designed to be worn or carried while Continue reading ‘Colour and space’
I am totally amazed when I find articles that confirm Chromophilia theory. Thanks to Francesca, who noticed this news on BBC website, I read again that according to the researchers the preferences about colours might be based in biology, rather than culture.
“A little girl’s love of all things pink may not be entirely due to marketing by clothes and toy firms say researchers.
A University of Newcastle study found that women naturally opted for redder shades when given a choice”.
“Writing in the journal Current Biology, experts say it may have helped women gather ripe fruit, or pick healthy mates.
Most earlier studies into colour suggest a universal liking for blue, regardless of sex.
This is one of the few studies that have tried to spot differences between the likes of males and females”.
‘Going green’ has become a very common expression nowadays – but who would have thought that ‘going black’ would actually be a part of that?
The way to go green today is to take very small steps that may seem insignificant, but that have great impact in the long run, especially if they become common practices. Every little way to perform our daily routines using just a little bit less energy can apparently make the world of difference. So if the colour black, or the concept of black as darkness have generally been associated to a negative symbology, when it comes to technology and energy-saving, allegedly going ‘obscure’ is the thing to do!
Or, at least, this is the theory behind Blackle, a new search engine that claims we can help the planet just by switching to a black screen, instead of sticking to the Google bright white homepage that we are all used to. Continue reading ‘Is Black the new Green?’
I am actually becoming a workaholic. Last week I spent days staying in studio till 2 am almost every day. This is why I am loosing contact with the world and I am not posting on the blog.
Fortunately some friends of mine are still alive and give me some good tips. For Example Francesca has forwarded onto me a link to the Ferragamo exhibition, inaugurated on Jun 20th in Florence.
The Ferragamo flagship on Santa Trinita, in the heart of Florence, houses more than designer shoes and bags. It is also home to the newly renovated design museum, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo. In The most recent exhibition there is Creativity in Color, curated by Stefania Ricci. Continue reading ‘‘Creativity in Color’ - exhibition at Museo Ferragamo’
Something that everyone is talking about this week in London is the logo for 2012 Olympics.
The dramatic new logo was unveiled on Monday - in the most significant move since London won the race to host the Games.
The bold jagged emblem based on the date 2012 comes in a series of very bright shades of pink, blue, green and orange in a modern take on the Olympic colours. The word London and the all-important Olympic rings are included in the first two digits.
The organisation said that the new emblem aims to be “dynamic, modern and flexible” and “will work with new technology and across traditional and new media networks”.
Apparently nobody apart from the organisation seems to like it. Read here for more comments
My friend Veronica was wondering why they are promoting it in this pink/ fucsia shade. Why fucsia? Any idea?
Months ago I mentioned Hélio Oiticica retrospective, The Body of Colour, at Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and only yesterday I realised that the exhibition is travelling to Tate Modern! Oiticica’s works will be on display from June 6 until September 23.
From Tate’s website:
Hélio Oiticica (1937–80) was one of the most innovative Brazilian artists of his generation and has come to be acknowledged as a significant figure in the development of contemporary art. Among his achievements was the original and uncompromising use of colour that was central to his practice, and thisis the first large-scale exhibition focusing on this key element in his work. Featuring more than 150 works, the exhibition includes several key series from 1955 onwards, some of which have not been seen publicly for more than thirty years.
Tomorrow I’ll visit A Life in Light, James Turrell’s exhibition at the Louise T Blouin Foundation. I wish Joanna could be in London, I think she’d like to come along!
Every day, at work, I have a look to the ‘Daily slurp‘ for both duty and fun.
It is simply a daily dose of sites to check out. It is all about visual appeal and it is designed to provide the fastest way possible to survey freshly designed web sites on the web.
One of the feature I prefer is the Colour Search that allows the user to search the full database of sites on Daily Slurp for sample by color. It’s really useful and inspiring. Check it out!
I have just found an interesting article published on ColourLovers blog. It’s about 11 Colour Legends.
From the website:
“Some colors become huge successes early on and then fade off into obscurity… while other colors go the distance and become international icons. Here we look at 11 of the great color legends… Stop Sign Red, Horny Green M&Ms, Black Death, Blue Sky…”
read the entire article here
Today I was reading a review about a book, ‘Seeing Red’ by Nicholas Humphreys.
Humphreys is School Professor at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics.
He has published several philosophical works on consciousness. ‘Seeing Red’ is one of these.
From Harvard University Press website:
“Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What’s involved in “seeing red”? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red?
Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact–a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that’s the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn’t told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what’s the point of consciousness?
Continue reading ‘Seeing Red’
A couple of friends of mine (Gianpaolo e Michela) came to London last weekend. They had with them La Repubblica women magazine ‘D’. While I was running my eye over this familiar pubblication, I found quite an interesting news.
The Center for Contemporary Non-Objective Art in Bruxelles presents the group exhibition A BIT O’WHITE.
From CCNA website
“The color phenomenon WHITE has long served as a subject of symbolism in religion, metaphysical thinking and literature, as well as in scientific and philosophical research. But it was not until the beginning of the last century, with the work of Kasimir Malevich, that WHITE in its radical form of expression first entered the world of the visual arts. Since this early, strong, seminal and - in his case utopian – statement the use of the color/material WHITE has become an integral part of artistic practice either in its pure form or as part of a broader frame of reference (De Stijl, Arp, Rauschenberg, Manzoni, LeWitt, Ryman, Group Zero, etc.). Continue reading ‘A BIT O’ WHITE’
French artist Daniel Buren (b. 1938) uses colour contrasts to create minimal installations, which tend to disorientate whoever happens to walk through them. He likes straight lines, which he paints on large walls, canvas, plexiglas, and various other media. I was lucky enough to visit his show at Centre Pompidou five years ago, and I would recommend to anyone who’s around London to see his new exhibition at Lisson Gallery, May 18-June 23. I’ll definitely go!
[Image via Paris-art, D. Buren, Le Musée qui n’existait pas, Centre Pompidou June-Sept 2002]
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