Design

A colour journey

Choices can have a profound impact on all manner of things – from how we feel to the environment we share

Saya

‘Colour is more than a finish option or a singular design choice. Colour – along with intuition, balance, light, play and family – has evolved to be one of our core values. Over the years, we have collaborated with designers and thinkers who have brought their own colour sensibility to our world,’ says Claudio Feltrin, Arper chairman.

Colour is not a static, fixed point. It does not act alone. In fact, colour is just as much a reflection of our perception – cultural, historical and material – as it is a single hue. Colour is a mirror to everchanging cultural tastes. Modernism was almost afraid of colour, believing that white cubes, black clothing and ‘neutral’ palettes conveyed sophistication. By contrast, intense colours historically (and maybe even still) have been perceived as decorative or frivolous. But tastes change. The same colour that was considered fresh and exciting at one moment in time could be felt drab in another era. A colour that signifies calm in one context could be labelled depressing in another, seen through a different cultural lens. Colour itself doesn’t change, but we do.

As much as culture and time affect how we perceive colour emotionally, colour also interacts with the personality of the object – its material, form, size, composition – and the changing conditions of its environment. The shine of silk, the deepness of velvet, the brilliance of enamel or the matte powder of pigment are always the same colour, but never the same effect.

Above all: one colour is nothing. It never exists alone, independent from material, surrounding colours and historical and cultural signifiers. Like a piece of music, it is the combination of shades that creates an atmosphere. Colour is constantly revealing itself.

In 2000, the design for Catifa brought Arper’s philosophy of colour into a new dimension. Created by Lievore Altherr Molina (LAM), the now iconic chair featured colour not just as a finishing element but as its central concept. The bi-colour design for Catifa was created with a new bi-injection technology that allowed for two colours to be juxtaposed on the same body.

‘The two-tone production creates a single visual identity between tables and chairs,’ says designer Jeannette Altherr of LAM. ‘Arranged around a light table, white chairs create a uniform environment designed for conversation and exchange. The external colour shell supports and protects collaboration and internal communication.’

The colours of the first Catifa collection were intended to be an active part of the interior design. The designers also played with texture: a glossy exterior combined with a slightly textured, matte interior meant even a completely white shell remained connected to the rest of the collection through slight shifts in colour caused by different surfaces.

‘In linear compositions, the twocoloured chairs create a double effect: seen from the front, the rows convey serenity and clarity, as if sitting on a freshly laundered sheet. From behind, the coloured backs create a vibrant and multifaceted surface that captures the eye and the imagination,’ says Altherr.

Additions to the collection saw Altherr take the bi-colour customisations to a new level of contrast and colour curation. Catifa 46 was released in fresh and playful colours, while Catifa 53 was enriched with warm finishes and leather versions, creating an elegant, refined look and more comfortable style.

Loop

When we think of colour in architectural applications, we think of being enfolded in it in the same way nature can wrap around us: imagine the deep blue of the sea on a Greek island, the million shades of orange, red and yellow in an autumn forest, or the ruddy earth tones of Siena. Colour at this scale has potential to be fully immersive and imprint deeply on how we feel. When designing Arper’s modular collections that create or define space, like the panels of Paravan (LAM, 2018), colour was treated with an eye for the immersiveness of architecture rather than furniture.

‘Colour is hue, surface and its relation to shape, but it is also dimension and its relation to a light and build context,’ says Altherr. ‘It can seem easy to choose a colour, but it is much more difficult to combine it with the furniture and the elements that make up architecture. For example, what works on a small scale, such as on a chair, might be too much when applied on a wall.’

While colour in Paravan is enveloping, it can also function as an organisational element in in a room – a boundary to define the architecture of a space. With the configurations of Kiik, designed by Iwasaki Design Studio, or LAM’s modular sofa Loop, colour is used not like a field but more like a horizon – a navigation point to affirm structure.

These applications of colour at scale have the power to impact greatly our environments and, in turn, how we feel. These human-centred, softer spaces support our needs intuitively with forms and materials that feel good and settings that awaken the senses. Environments that bring us together and put us at ease. To create this, colour is crucial.

‘Years ago, we were lucky enough to visit Luis Barragán’s homes in Mexico City. We were impressed by the emotional strength of the colours used for the walls – really unusual colours like pink, yellow, bright red, blue. Incredibly, due to the texture of the walls, they were perceived not as artificial but as natural. The fabric – the main material for a small architecture like Paravan – can offer the same material sensation: structured, rich, warm,’ says Altherr.

Colour is emotion made visible. It not only creates personality in an object, it has a personality all its own. When we think of pink or blue, certain connotations – and even emotions – arise. We understand the ties between colour and emotion so deeply that, at times, colour can even stand in for an emotion. Think of Picasso’s melancholic Blue Period, or of seeing life through an optimistic lens with rose-coloured glasses. We effortlessly link colour and emotion through language because colour so effortlessly makes us feel.

‘In the end, what matters is the action that colour exerts on us, what it does,’ says photographer Dominik Tarabanski, who has explored the emotional connection to colour. ‘If we are looking at a painting, an object or a chair, what impression does its colour have on us? Does it work or not? Does it make us feel something, does it give shape to an impression of what we are seeing? It is not my intention to rediscover colour, but to invite people to consider it more carefully.’

Writer and designer Ingrid Fetell Lee has a similar ambition in her work of asking her audience to be more in touch with the impact of their surroundings. ‘Emotional tenor affects a lot of the things we do. If these aesthetics really bring more joy, we become more open, more affectionate, more collaborative, creative, willing.’

Colour can impact not only our mood, but our sense of well-being too. Around 2014, the boundaries between life and work began to blur. A digital revolution was impacting every area of life, nowhere more so than in how and where we work. The office became not a static building or location we travelled to, but

Paravan Kiik

rather, the digital tools we carry. The office was now anywhere our laptops or smartphones were: at home, an airport, a restaurant, or at the beach. Our offices were changing, too: more colourful, less functional, more intuitive and empathetic.

For Arper, this shift was the genesis of soft tech: innovation and technology in the service of the body and mind, not technology purely for its own sake. It began to recognise that the quality of our spaces has an impact on everything – from health to productivity to creativity and collaboration. And that the quality of our spaces is defined not only by material and architecture, but by colour.

This softer approach was inspiration for Kinesit. This palette explores and combines the nuances of primary colours situated in a bright, luminous space to foster a joyful but sophisticated mood. Designed for an environment that was traditionally dominated by grey and black, Kinesit offered a sensuous, soft and fresh palette alternative that was centred around well-being of both the body and mind.

The interaction of body and mind was also the basis for Cila in 2017. Inspired by the image of layers of cloth enveloping the body, Cila’s silhouette of smooth lines retains a graphic character from its distinctive curve – the most essential symbol of shelter. Like being protected, being held. The colours of Cila’s plastic shell took inspiration in clay and skin colours: earthy, fluid, warm, organic. Cila’s palette was complemented by materials that retained their tactile qualities: natural leather, soft wool, plastic, cast iron and a muted black for the base, and black plastic. In Cila, colour and form translated into a consideration of well-being, expressed as a slow wrapping gesture, with a thick felt fabric, inspired by Joseph Beuys’ felt sculptures.

Material is closely related to colour – and in some cases, colour is material. Colour is modulated by the qualities of material: its texture – matte, silky, shiny, rough, the natural colour of the base material, and how it changes over time. The subtle nuances are an endless source of inspiration.

Arper began to explore inherent colour changes of materiality in 2012 with Saya, Arper’s first wooden chair, designed by LAM, and then with Aava, designed by Antti Kotilainen in 2013. Saya was created as an alternative to the long-living and unchanging synthetic plastics. The designers wanted to underline the living qualities of a natural material like wood; over time, its palette becomes an expression of life, ageing, and the patina acquired by time.

‘The Inspiration came from a visit to Japan, where I visited a manufacturer of tea containers in steel, copper and brass. The metal sheets are not sealed, therefore the touch of hands and use over a long time gives a unique oxidation patina. Wood has a similar, lively quality. It represents time,’ says Altherr.

A palette of natural veneers with an open pore finish was chosen, fusing colour and materiality.

‘We chose colours in a gradient you can find naturally in wood, from a very pale, bleached tone, to toasted, up to a dark brown, almost black, like charcoal. We included three different shades of red – a colour that suggests life, like wood, and is actually often used on wood in Japan. We imagine that one colour can interpret a singular piece; several colours together can create a rhythmic pattern,’ says Altherr.

Where Arper’s wooden pieces allow the materiality to create natural colour over time, palette choices for architecturally inspired collections like Arcos and Stacy reinforced the qualities of material through colour selection. With Arcos, LAM combined a repeated classical form with modern finishes inspired by dramatic material presence: velvet in rich colours like black marble, deep green, ink, rust, and ochre.

‘Special care was dedicated to the colours. Inspired by Corberò’s house near Barcelona, we imagined the pieces in a monochrome finish like a shadow. We envisioned elegant, dark, velvet-like colours both in the upholstery and in the matte lacquer of the metal to suggest the idea that the piece is made of one single material. The rich palette forms a graphic yet suggestive contrast against white walls, further evoking our source of inspiration: the Corberò house and the powerful visual archetype of geometry.’

While Arcos uses colour to reinforce material choices, Arper also became interested in the materiality of colour itself through the work of collaborator Jennifer Brooke. Brooke is a design practitioner and researcher who studies, and creates with, natural pigments found in the earth.

‘When I started working with pigments as materials, and making watercolours or crayons or chalks, I came to

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discover that each pigment behaved differently: some are buttery and velvety and a joy to work with, others take more time to open up,’ she says. ‘They have bodies and personalities. Thinking back to Arper’s provocation that colour yields personality: colour is personality.”

Brooke’s work raises questions about how designers and producers could come to think about the use of natural colours to aid in sustainability efforts in design. ‘Most people, when they talk about the colour of the earth, think of shades of brown. But earth tones have an incredible range of colour – from pinks to yellows to blues to greens. We are literally standing on a spinning ball of erotic, explosive colour.’

While Brooke’s work quite literally unearths colour in landscape, Arper began to be curious about colour and nature in a different way: the connection to the land through colour and materiality in design. With Adell, designed by Lievore + Altherr Désile Park in 2020, colour selection mirrors the commitment to the natural world through the intermingling of colour and material.

‘We could not have imagined this organic shape and this natural tactility together with artificial colours such as optical white or bright and technical colours,’ says Altherr. ‘We have developed a range of soft shades, inspired by natural materials such as wood and leaves. Even basic colours such as white and black are not purely graphic colours but a more delicate version of them: graphite black and ivory.’

For Arper, what is produced has always been as important as how it is produced. It is not enough for objects to be beautiful – they must also be made with consideration for their impact on the health of society and the environment. Sustainability in every aspect of design – from material sourcing to production practices, even to the use of colour – is not secondary but a central concern in the creation of every collection.

‘As companies, we have a social responsibility for sustainability that we simply cannot overlook,’ says Feltrin. ‘In 2005, we set up a special team focusing specifically on sustainability. As an organisation that produces, we focused on the aspects that have the greatest impact on the ecosystem, including the way we select materials, our production processes and how we handle the final stage of the product lifestyle. In time, these tools grew into guidelines and became a set part of our processes – a reflection of our belief that sustainability requires constant effort and attention over time.’

Arper’s circular perspective begins with the origin of materials. Can the designer’s vision be completed with a low-pesticide-use material like algae instead of water-and-pesticide-intensive cotton? Is it possible for the design to be created using recycled plastic? These questions extend to the consideration of colour. Most colour processes that alter the natural colour of a material have a profoundly negative effect on the environment. Textile colour treatments like bleaching and dyeing create 20% of all freshwater pollution. Natural plant dyes provide a safer alternative to chemical dyes in terms of pollutants, but do not provide sufficient colourfastness.

‘Design can explore ways of innovating and redefining aesthetic values to ensure that what is good for the environment and human beings is seen as beautiful and desirable,’ says Feltrin.

Today, beyond offering customisable upholstery finishes in sustainably produced fabrics in myriad colours, Arper has begun to consider colour in new ways. With the 2021 Kata collection, Altherr Désile Park explored new strategies for sustainability. By creating a cushion produced by 3D knit and from post-consumer polyester, the overall textile waste was reduced by 30%-50%. The need for chemical dye processes was reduced by incorporating texture and pattern into the 3D knit, creating two different patterns, which animate the surface with light and shadows created by a relief in graphic shapes.

‘On one hand we explored how to find strategies other than combining colours to animate a space,’ says Altherr. ‘For Kata, we developed four basic natural colours: charcoal and linen – which use no additional dye – and wheat and water. We felt there was less need for expressive colours when you have other ways to make an interesting surface. You can then use colours just in small doses, like on one cushion.’

Another possible design solution is to reconsider how we view patina and the impact of time on colour, to broaden the vocabulary of colour processes.

‘The patina of a well-worn pair of jeans adds an appeal that a new pair doesn’t have,’ says Altherr. ‘Collectors are particularly attracted to the patina of second-hand furniture. A scar of repair, like the kintsugi technique of repairing broken ceramics, or the restoration project undertaken by David Chipperfield at the Neue Museum in Berlin, can become something even more beautiful or unique. The question remains: in a world on the brink of a climate crisis, how can we change our aesthetic values to support our sustainability efforts?’

‘Sustainable use of colour does not mean limiting our palettes, but rather opening our minds to the full spectrum of colours and possibilities that can arrive through design solutions. Only then will we be able fully to understand the true future of colour,’ says Feltrin. Visit: www.arper.com

imm cologne from 17-23 January 2022, Cologne The brands, creators and business of tomorrow

Experience the major brands and creators with your own eyes, meet business partners, and prepare for the business of the future: in January 2022, imm cologne will be the first big in-person international event for the interiors industry to open its doors after the outbreak of the pandemic. And what better place could there be to finally see collections first-hand again, discover the issues of tomorrow and lay the foundations for the business of the future?

Time for an exchange

The event’s motto “Time for an exchange”, sums up the essentials: it’s time to meet again and exchange ideas – and to create something new that still feels like imm cologne. The format we have developed combines the trade fair with digital ideas – and brings them together to create a unique concept.

The in-person event at the start of the year

The trade fair’s centrepiece will continue to be the in-person event at the start of the year. Seeing new products with your own eyes, experiencing innovations first-hand, meeting face to face with established partners and making new contacts – nothing in the future will be able to replace this. And Cologne will be the perfect place for it in 2022 yet again: 600 exhibitors are expected, with 74% travelling from outside Germany to appear. imm cologne will be the biggest interior design trade fair in Europe for the industry’s relaunch after the coronavirus crisis.

The international industry gathering will naturally not only present fresh creative innovations and the latest ideas from the world of interior design. Cologne is also the place where the major brands and designers showcase their visions of tomorrow – together with trade fair visitors, they will set the stage for the key interior trends for the coming months.

Extending far beyond the trade fair

The second, new aspect of the Interior Business Event: imm cologne 365. The combination of the ambista business network and the magazine by imm cologne content platform is unique in the industry. It offers interior professionals business and networking opportunities and a forum for exchanging inspiration that go far beyond the trade fair – now available 365 days a year. Visit: imm-cologne.com.