IG: DESIGN COLOUR PALETTES

Launched in March 2017, Design Palettes (@design.palettes) is a side project

that explores the colour palettes of prominent design styles, designers and
colour theories. Check out the entire range of Design Palettes on Instagram.

Colour, tonal value and saturation are dimensions of colour that can be used
tocreate impact and identity, encourage engagement, and contribute to mood
and ambience in applied design and architecture. Design colour schemes
usually have an underlying colour palette or dominant colour theme over
which the designer adds secondary colours and accent colours.

Daniel Romualdez. Philippine-born American architect Romualdezs design

colour palette tends to be subtle, cohesive and well-proportioned with
individual colours rarely taking prominence over the palette as a whole. With
Renee Rockefeller, architect/designer Romualdez created a luxurious living
room in a Fifth Ave apartment. The design colour palette features soft honeyed
tones in faux suede walls coupled with ivory and bone upholstery. At 252 East
57th Street NYC, the living room features a restrained colour palette of buff
and grey contrasted with black and white. While the showroom of jewelry
designer Suzanne Belperron features duck egg blue nestled alongside soft
pink/buff tones and ivory. Romualdez as listed as one of 100 best designers by
Architectural Digest magazine 2017.

Sue Timney (b1950). This British designer became obsessed with black at art
school and thereafter black paired with white became a signature feature of
her interior design and her product designs for Timney Fowler: wallpapers,
textiles and ceramics. This image features Timneys home and a converted
water tower residence, London.

Tertiary Colours: Orange-Purple. The northern foyer of the Sydney Opera

House (1973) features purple carpet set within a timber and concrete interior.
The resulting tertiary colour scheme of predominantly orange-purple imbues
the foyer with a unique, dramatic identity and ambience. The design of the
interiors was completed by architects Todd, Hall and Littlemore after the
departure of Jrn Utzon in 1966. Utzons intention was to use rich colours for
the interiors in order to create a festive mood and convey a sense of the
extraordinary.

German-born, American designer Vladimir Kagan (1927-2016) designed the

Comete sectional sofa suite for Roche Bobois in 2003. When Kagan died in
2016, Roche Bobois released a tribute to Kagan and this image features
Kagans Comete sofa suite in a rich colour palette of oranges, pink-purple
and purple.

Stephen Shadleys interior design for Jennifer Anistons Beverly Hills home
featured in Architectural Digest in October 2013. The tertiary colour scheme
of orange-purple is set within a residence that features timber and stone
details. This tertiary colour scheme suits the architectural setting, conveys a
unique mood and ambience, and gives the setting a strong identity that suits its
celebrity owner.

Mid Century Modern (20th century). Now recognized as a unique design

aesthetic, Mid Century Modern represents a cluster of architecture, graphic
design, product and interior design from c1935 to 1965. The colour palette of
Mid Century Modern features black, browns and tans, and off-white coupled
with saturated colours: dark and mid orange, dark and mid blue, green, red
and yellow. The image featured here is from the TV series Mad Men, created
by Matthew Weiner. Dan Bishop (Production Designer) and Amy Wells (Set
Decorator) recreated a Mid Century Modern aesthetic using classic period
furniture and a colour palette drawn from the era.

Laura Bohn (New York). Known as the Queen of Soft Modern, Bohns
colour palettes feature hues drawn from the same hue/tonal value family
enhanced with accents of unexpected hues, pops of stronger colour saturation
as well as texture to add visual interest. With a preference for monochromatic
colour palettes, Bohn uses neutrals but avoids beige as it can easily turn
muddy and anonymous. She avoids too little colour/contrast and aims for
subtle contrasts. Bohn uses variations in finish (matt, satin, gloss) and texture
(timber, marble, metallics), adds light/white ceilings and marginally darker
accents for visual contrast. Bohn avoids hues that may be incongruous,
shocking or obtrusive. A clever trick that Bohn applies is to paint a hallway
grey (such as Sherwin Williams Dovetail) and paint the adjoining rooms
marginally lighter (Sherwin Williams Repose Gray) as these rooms then seem
lighter and more spacious in comparison.

Bauhaus (1919-1933). The Bauhaus colour palette is achromatic with a

minimal use of colour, predominantly the primary colours of red, yellow and
blue. The Bauhaus design aesthetic eschewed embellishment and revolved
around functionalism and modernist principles and elements of design. Light-
dark contrast was considered a key element in Bauhaus design and this is due
to Ittens belief that colour contrast and especially light-dark contrast could be
highly expressive and can help to create focus as well as convey mood,
ambience and atmosphere in applied design. The Bauhaus building at Dessau
was designed by Walter Gropius and features an achromatic exterior and
interior interspersed with pops of primary colour: red, yellow and blue.

Ilse Crawford (British, b1962). Crawfords colour palettes are underpinned

by a minor tonal chord in neutrals (revolving around white or grey or warm
beige). This underlying colour palette is enlivened with muted colour at the
same tonal level plus accent details in stronger saturated colour, metallics and
dark brown or black. The underlying palette creates a cohesive visual
ambience that is often calming and cocoon-like, providing a restful canvas for
human activity. Ilse Crawford studied history, worked with an architecture
firm, was launch editor of Elle Decoration and worked with Donna Karan
before moving into interior design. Crawford is a designer and academic who
aims to put human needs at the centre of her work. As founder of Studioilse,
together with her multi-disciplinary, London-based team, Crawford creates
environments where humans feel comfortable and public spaces that make
people feel at home. Furniture and products are designed that support and
enhance human behaviour and actions in everyday life. As founder of the
department of Man and Wellbeing at the Design Academy Eindhoven,
Crawfords mission extends to encouraging students to ensure their creative
output improves the reality of life.

For more information go to Studio Ilse website.

Images feature Duddells Arts Club, Hong Kong (2013); Ett Hem Hotel,
Stockholm (2012) and Dinder House, Somerset (2009).
Andre Putman (French, 1925-2013). After an initial career in music,
Putman worked for Elle and LOeil magazines where she mixed with artists
and designers. It is likely that she developed a relatively austere design
aesthetic as a reaction to her wealthy heritage. At age 53, Putman
established Ecart Paris, a firm dedicated to showcasing the work of classic
furniture designs. In addtion, Putman designed residential, retail and hotel
interiors and products for brands like Baccarat and Christofle. Putman
designed residential and retail (including Yves Saint Laurent stores), and she
helped to define the concept of boutique hotel (Morgans Hotel, 2008 & 1984).

Putmans design aesthetic revolves around a rejection of embellishment and a

focus on tonal values. Her early colour schemes were dominated by white,
grey and black with occasional colours in muted tones. Her later colour
palettes were based around a neutral colour palette (white and/or grey) with
accents in muted hues in light or dark tones plus timber, metallics, and the
occasional shot of saturated colour.

For more information about Studio Putman go to their website.

Images in order: Morgans Hotel, London (1984) for Steve Rubell and Ian
Schrager owners of Studio 54; San Sebastian residence (2005); Morgans
Hotel, London (2008) refurbishment

Design Colour Palettes created by Zena OConnor.

https://zenaoconnor.com.au/design-palettes/

https://www.johnlovett.com/color