colour me richy...

Colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light energy versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra.

bleugh.....thats the science part over...

i saw a fantastic article recently in an irish indepenent property plus supplement featuring a colleague of mine, danielle mac innes of fuse interiors. (www.fuseinteriors.ie). 

provided with a quote from oscar wilde and colour analogies from colour psychologist angela wright, danielle's insights into her use of colour highlighted how crucial it is to think about colour when designing your home, or indeed any space...

it brought me back to some careful studying and thinking i did when completing my graduate project at university, and how important i thought of colour and its uses in the spaces i was designing...if you havent read it, i highly recommend this reading;

itten, the elements of colour; published by chapman and hall...

as much as oscar wilde realised that mere colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways, itten also understood that the philosophys applied mean that we as designers must also understand and be conscious of its interests and requirements....

ittens writings provided me with the competence to qualify me with colour control for the rest of my life, i learned alot about colour mixture, on ways hues can be arranged to create harmonious order, (i've never forgotten that statement ), how colours and form relate to each other and create spatial effects.

i've always thought back to this man and his writings anytime i've had to think about colour, and the advice and conclusions i was lead to study have saved me from making clumsy mistakes where colour is concerned...