COLOR Week includes the importance of colour in design and architecture

This Monday afternoon, El Celler hosted one of the first conferences scheduled for COLOR Week. Pere Ortega, architect from Saeta Estudi and member of Colour Community, gave a talk entitled Les tendències del color (Colour Trends), during which he set out his theories on the importance colours have in design and architecture.

This expert briefly reviewed the history of colour, from the first references by Greek philosophers Aristotle and Empedocles, to the conceptualisation of white light and basic colours set out by Leonardo da Vince, and the foundations of Isaac Newton’s colour spectrum theory. He also clarified that – when we speak of colour – we do so based on our sensory perceptions and not due to any intrinsic characteristic of the material: ‘Every person sees something different when looking at a series of colours. It is our eyes that determine our perception. It is highly personal and not dogmatic, although there are codes.’

Despite the subjectivity typical of colour, over the course of many years, colour ranges and usage trends have been established, which have determined how they are applied in our daily lives. Ortega explained how professionals have progressively defined these criteria and how there is a direct relationship between colour and contemporary society: ‘Colour and the colour palette are essential variables in design. Their trends and connotations are closely connected to eras and the social and cultural milieu, as well as to market vision.’ To give examples of this, he mentioned some of his works that show the application of colour trends in interior architecture.

With regard to the importance colour has in product design, Ortega stressed that ‘none of us would acquire an object if we didn’t like the colour, because it is a characteristic with great energy and strength. Whether or not a product is successful can depend on the colour choices.’

Colour Community

Pere Ortega is a member of Colour Community, a professional multidisciplinary group devoted to the global study of colour and matter, whose aim is to publicise the importance it has in all creative disciplines. The community is now working on predicting the colour gamut, or range, that will prevail for 2023 in fields like architecture, fashion, graphic design and product design, but also in city planning and the public space.

This research is conducted by holding meetings with representatives from different disciplines, mainly professionals but also students. Their contributions will end up producing overlapping areas that – after a conceptualisation process – will lead to a final colour set.

Learning about colour

Pere Ortega’s conference was presented by the director of the edRa Art & Design School, Candi Casadevall, with the attendance of Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez and other municipal government members.

This Tuesday, the most informative side of COLOR Week will continue with the talk by Andrés Di Masso and Sergi Valera, entitled Urban Social Psychology. The conference, which will set out the social issues involved in city planning, can be followed online starting at 6.30pm, but make sure you sign up in advance.

Friday at 6pm is the scheduled time for the online chat Memòria i vinyetes. El còmic com a eina de memòria (Memory and Comic Strips: Comics as a Tool for Memory), which will set out how graphic novels are related to conveying historical memory. The activity will consist of a talk with David Fernández de Arriba, author of a book on this topic, and Enric Garriga, president of Amical de Mauthausen.

The conference Colour and Photography is scheduled for Saturday at 6.30pm, given by Carles Mercader and Enric Montes. This will be a face-to-face talk at El Celler, although you will also need to sign up in advance for this event.

The conference series finishes on Sunday at 6.30pm, once again at El Celler, with the chat Emotions and their Colours. Psychology professors María Palacín and Elena Sorribes have an interactive dynamic proposal for you to reflect on how colours and emotions influence our personal relationships.

You can register free for all these activities by sending an email to color@ajrubi.cat.