A Circular Manifesto for Colour
6 Colour Directions that liberate designers, brands and consumers from dated colour restrictions while supporting the circular economy
Laura Perryman and Sarah Conway discuss the demise of consumer-driven design and the dawn of considered colour.
Innovations in organic colouring methods, featuring Ty Smyl, Studio Sarmite, Andrea Liu, Sukumo, Hannah Elisabeth Jones and Ilse Kremer. Photograph ©Colour of Saying.
From lead white cosmetics to uranium orange ceramics, the allure of colour has often led humans to take irrational risks. This century, our engagement with environmental issues has increased the desirability of ‘eco-colours’ such as cream and green.¹ But our colour processes are out of step. Paint solvents — green or otherwise — still contain high quantities of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) linked to atmospheric pollution, asthma and cancers,² and colourants containing heavy metals increase in toxicity as they move up the food chain, eventually poisoning those at the top.³
To achieve true circularity, we need to connect and resolve every part of the manufacturing process, including, or perhaps even beginning with, colour.
Materials don’t need us to colour them. In a circular economy, where the planet is our ultimate customer and client, we must take colour decisions seriously and consider if the aesthetic and functional enhancements colour brings to a material justify the environmental costs.
But colour is not a frivolity. According to studies of psychology, perception and marketing, colour is the most appealing element of design.⁴ When selected and applied thoughtfully, it offers us agency over human mood, behaviour and interaction. Commercially, colour generates consumer appeal; pragmatically, it extends a material’s life and performs a staggering variety of functions, from reflective cooling (white) to signalling safety (green) and danger (red).
We believe palettes should move towards a regenerative, circular future in which colours, materials and finishes contribute positively to the natural ecosystems of which humans are part.
The designers and brands featured here show that via colour: seductive, beguiling and endlessly irresistible colour, tackling the failings of the linear take-make-waste economy may not be such a chore. Viewed afresh, the things we have overlooked and thrown away offer a precious chance to rediscover colour nuance, abundance and even, transience.