A Colourful Evening: Thursday 27th June at Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard
An invitation to think about colour in the building which houses my art studio could not be missed. Arranged by my studio neighbours, James and Josh of James Edgar Design for the Plymouth Design Forum (PDF), this was one of their quarterly meetings.
I was not disappointed. The Project Space in Ocean Studios was decked out magnificently with coloured papers from G F Smith, the paper company. The room had never looked so good. G F Smith sponsored the event and in a gripping presentation, their representative, Ben, introduced us to The World’s Favourite Colour Project in which 27,000 people from across the world had each chosen their favourite colour. After some serious number-crunching, the boffins came up with Marrs Green (see below).
More captivating still was the the accompanying information from each submission where entrants described the way the colours made them feel. This produced colours for diverse words from ‘Future” to ‘Luxury” and ‘Passion’ to ‘Creativity’. Apparently nobody described the colour of ‘Love’. With further consolidation of the data, G F Smith were able to provide colours which approximate with many of our emotional responses. A marketing man’s dream!
Broadly speaking, blues and greens are the most popular colours. It was a fascinating presentation.
How do you follow that? With the author of ‘The Secret Lives of Colour’, Kassia St. Clair, of course! James Edgar designed the first edition of this beautiful book and Kassia attributed its success in no small part down to James’s design. It’s one of the loveliest books you’ll ever hold!
The book is a survey of 75 colours, their history and development. Kassia chose five colours to present: Ultramarine, Tyrian Purple, Mummy, Scheele’s Green and Chrome Yellow. I am still coming to terms with the fact that there was really an oil paint called Mummy which was made from the mummified bodies of our forefathers!
I came home clutching my signed copy of the book and cannot recommend the book enough. I recently bought a copy for my niece whose studying Fine Art at Chelsea. ‘This will be very useful for essays,’ she said.
Based on this evening, the Plymouth Design Forum will go from strength to strength!
