Coming home to colour
"When my son was a teenager he said to me, ‘When I get a place of my own I want it to have an old sofa because old sofas are the most comfortable and the most friendly,' recalls leading Canadian colour expert Janice Lindsay, who will explore the idea of ‘Coming Home: Colour and Design, Biology and the Beauty in Imperfection' in her seminar at the Australian International Furniture Fair in February.
With a column in Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper and a newly-published book ‘All About Colour' Janice Lindsay is one of Canada's premier colour designers and the founder of Toronto-based consultancy PINK Color + Design. She will present her seminar on Wednesday 2 February 2011 from 10.30 to 11.30 am as part of a series at the Australian International Furniture Fair (AIFF).
Lindsay's talk on Design and Colour Direction 2011 -2012, will analyse how interior design is losing its hard edges and rules of "good taste", meaning design and colour are more relaxed and intuitive, less ostentatious and more natural. Looking at how aesthetics are part of our biology and evolution in mankind's original home, Nature and the Savannahs, she will explore how this plays into what makes a place look and feel good.
"I see the direction of design resembling the way teenagers and kids decorate whenever they are given the chance. They build their nest and shape their space with a naïve, intuitive confidence that comes from following the heart and not the head. They make a collage of mismatched objects that they value, not because of price but because of shape, colour or associations with friends, family or occasions that make them special. Sometimes it is the oldest, most bedraggled object that is the most loved. (What we love is beautiful, no matter what it looks like.) Walls are embraced as a canvas for self-expression and when it comes to colour they use it as the legendary painter Gauguin did, making choices driven by emotion."
Good interior design has, like good architecture, three essential ingredients - what the famed writer of Roman times Vitruvius called "commodity, firmness, and delight," Lindsay says.
"Too often the third has been found wanting, but now we not only want well-made pieces that do the job; we want delight. Like kids, we value things around us that hold meaning, tell stories and are in some way unique, authentic or personal. The Japanese concept of ‘Wabi-sabi' - beauty in humble, handmade things and the flaws that make objects unique - holds sway over polished, anonymous perfection."
"As a result, and due to the current climate, the new luxury is less ostentatious, as we continue ‘keeping down with the Jones' and focus on the private, experiential world, caring less about how things look and more about how they feel. This is a time when the artisan who makes bespoke furniture is valued and remunerated as an artist. Art, from fine art to graffiti, and the surfaces upon which we can scribble, bring a vital energy into décor."
"From stores, to offices to homes, formal minimalism is softened or given a new ‘anima' by the use of curvaceous surfaces, mixed materials - some showing the patina of time or wear - and objects that are playful, retro familiar and engaging. Colour is no longer a four-wall commitment, but full of surprises. High intensity palettes interrupt formality and add novelty to traditional settings. Design becomes more right-brain - intuitive and emotion driven. Wild-child, magpie mixes that are free, informal and idiosyncratic are united not by style but ‘the eye', a curatorial approach to collecting and arranging. These are the things that make us feel like we are no longer round pegs in square holes but in spaces shaped to suit our most relaxed and comfortable selves; places that make us feel like we have finally come home."
Turning to the Australian concept of home, Lindsay believes two things influence colour tastes: climate and cultural confidence.
"Australians tend to use more vibrant colours than Canadians because the climate is warmer. My theory is that the closer you are to nature's vibrant colours, the more normal stronger colour look, while a lack of colour looks odd."
Economic factors also have a strong part to play.
"At this autumn's Colour Marketing Group (CMG) Conference in Portland, Oregon (US) it was the Americans that were colour conservative, continuing a strong desire for grey and greyed colours and fewer colour choices, because the economic recession has not abated. Having said that, colour interruptions still seem to bubble up everywhere and give "good taste" a refreshing twist, most probably through the influence of Gen Y..."
Images from top:
Designers Guild, distributed in Australia by Radford Furnishings
Design Week - London
See Janice Lindsay's seminar on 2 February 2011 from 10.30 to 11.30 am as part of the Australian International Furniture Fair (AIFF), taking place at Sydney Exhibition Centre from 2-4 February 2011.
 Furnitex Decoration + Design |
|
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5.