Precision is everything!

Yesterday we had a colour workshop led by Blandine Lelong from 9.30-5.30. By the end of the day I genuinely felt I was beginning to lose the plot. That and going colour blind!

From our Maison et Objet visit last week we had to chose a textile brand who's colour palette was of interest to us. Thinking of my dear friend Cat (on erasmus exchange in Finland) and being struck by the strong presence of Scandinavian designers, I decided to choose a Finnish brand- Lapuan Kankurit - http://www.lapuankankurit.fi/fi/etusivu/etusivu/

This traditional finnish weaving company is a family business now in its fourth generation. The colours and materials are directly influenced by the landscape thus giving the product strong associations with its origins. The products are well crafted, tasteful and wholesome- much the way I imagine Finland and finnish culture to be. I am usually a bit of a magpie when it comes to colour, always choosing brights and vivid shades so I decided that choosing the colour palette of this company would challenge me and allow me to learn the effectiveness of a more neutral colour palette.

However, back to the workshop.......We spent hours mixing our gouaches to recreate the precise shade of colours presented in our chosen companies colour palette. Never had I before realised the timely cost of adding a pinprick of ultramarine blue instead of cyan blue. Every once in a while the teacher would come around and judge the precision of our colours, which always seemed a touch too grey or ever so slightly too lights etc and so the painstaking mixing process recommenced! I felt as if I suddenly worked for Panetone and I struggled to understand the purpose of our little painted squares. Perhaps all will become clearer later this week.