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.