Colourful questions answered...
February 18, 2020
Language can be colourful. Especially at the end of a long day in the Darkie Designs shop! But when it comes to colour, it's not really what we say that counts, but how things look. We're often asked why colour is so important and how we go about choosing the right colours for the right space. Well, the most basic tool all of us design-type folks use is the good old colour wheel. And it really works.
So, what is a colour wheel? No, it's not the rear tyre of your bakkie painted Blou Bull blue. It's actually a visual representation of colours arranged according to what's called their chromatic relationship. What's that? Well, chromatic colours have characterising hues such as red, blue and yellow - the primary colours. What's a primary colour? One that can't be created by mixing any other colours and is mixed to create other colours. Are we clear? Right...
So chromatic colours have hues and levels of those hues (called saturation). The level of saturation creates the intensity of the hue as well as its lightness. White, grey and black are what's called achromatic. They have no hues or saturation. So they don't appear on the colour wheel.
Right, so we're back to the colour wheel. On it you find 12 colour segments made out of the aforementioned primary colours, secondary colours and tertiary colours. You get secondary colours by mixing primary colours. Tertiary colours are secondary colours mixed with primary colours and so on, and so forth.
The colour wheel sets the primary colours at equidistance to one another and bridges the gaps between them with the secondary and tertiary colours. Every colour has its opposite, contrasting colour and similar, complementary colours around it, arranged in segments that get lighter in hue as they get nearer the centre of the wheel.
It's a wonderful tool because it tells you at a glance which colours complement one another and which clash. It also sets out what's known as your "warm" colours and "cool" colours.
Red, orange and yellow are considered "warm" colours. Green, blue and purple or violet are "cool" colours. Cooler tones are calming and relaxing while the warmer colours are exciting and energetic. Before you choose the colour palette for decorating purposes, you need to decide what kind of feel you want in the space you are creating.
A well-balanced room will have a dominant colour, a completementary colour and a contrasting colour, but not in equal amounts. We recommend a split of 60% main colour, 30% in a hue of that colour and 10% in an opposite, contrasting colour. So if you're going with blue, choose a blue from the colour wheel as your main (60%) colour, select a different hue of that colour as an accent (30%) and then add in a splash of orange as an opposite, contrasting colour (10%).
Don't be afraid to mix your cools and warms, throw in metals and woods for effect too. Pale woods and silver are cool. Rich woods, gold and bronze are warm. If you're going for a warm palette, it's sometimes nice to anchor it with white walls and neutral upholstery.
The bottom line is that the colour wheel is a great guide and will help you to make the right colour decisions. Have fun!
Here's some inspiration for you...
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Back in March of 2020, Bianca and Jana were dusting off their Fez’s and grabbing the pashminas out of storage in preparation to Rock the Casbah! However, as we all know and vividly remember - with March, came the eventual Covid shutdown, and instead of frolicking down the Moroccan streets, we all shut ourselves inside and watched the days tick by… 3 Years later, and now we can finally say - with conviction - that they’re going to Morocco at the start of September! This blog, filled with excitement and curiosity about all the weird and wonderful curios they might find, and endless sourcing they’ll do, stays as a reminder that sometimes plans change, things go awry and there’s not much you can do about it other than persevere - and that we did! So, here’s Bianca and Jana’s innermost thoughts about the trip, 3 years before it came to fruition, enjoy :) We've got our passports out and Jana has already picked out what she's going to wear each day… Come March [September] we'll be heading north with Air France to the Kingdom of Morocco, bright eyed and bushy tailed as we make our base in the ancient city of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech to the French, but we're not French, so we'll go with the English version until all that fuss about Brexit is sorted out) - This turned into a year long negotiations trade, and now us outsiders would pay nearly double what we used to if we visit the UK - thankfully our flight is direct!! We'll be looking for inspiration and will be investigating what's there that we could possibly bring back to The Hoed. We can't wait to experience the atmosphere and afro-arabic influences of this amazing place as we visit the celebrated souks and off-the-beaten track artists and craftsmen that make Marrakesh so special. We're desperate to see the beautifully hand-crafted furniture, textiles, fabrics, rugs, carpets, objets d'art, accessories, lighting… anything that catches our eye and could possibly be brought back south. Berber mats and rugs are definitely on our list, as are the kind of furnishings you might find in a gorgeous Bedouin tent. If you think about it, the Bedouin refined the art of "glamping" into an artform - fabulous carpets on the ground, soft, billowing fabrics hung here and there, plump cushions spread on the ground, intricate leatherwork and carved wood, patinated metal… Total Glamping vibes! We just love all of it and will be tracking as much of it down as we can. We'll also have an eye or three out for wonderful ceramics and glassware and wonderful lamps that give off soft, filtered light. For us it's about workmanship, so we'll hopefully be finding the people who make furniture and ceramics using techniques that have been passed down over countless generations meaning that everything we look at will have its own, and its own special story. Our mission is to share those stories with you and, if it's feasible, bring some of that special workmanship home to the Rainbow Nation. We're most definitely inspired and are sure this is going to be a truly special trip! Counting the sleeps till then! Less than a month to go now - we will be keeping the updates going on our social channels as well as another few blog posts to explain in detail our wild adventures - Stay tuned!
A safari theme never really runs out of viewing time and is particularly popular for interiors at the moment. The warm, earthy tones give a sense of comfort and the accessories offer the anticipation of travel and adventure.
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