Colour Decoded
What’s your decorating personality? Harlequin has launched a campaign to get us thinking about how colour affects our physical and emotional wellbeing. Visit the dedicated Own The Room website to take an online quiz that will help unlock your personal style, and then see moodboards, colour schemes and fabrics and wallpapers based on the result (pictured is the ‘Renew’ scheme, for the “calm and considered” personality).
The campaign has a more serious side to it too, exploring the power of colour to affect our mood. Harlequin has commissioned a white paper by Professor Stephen Westland, professor of colour science and technology at the University of Leeds, titled Is the Colour of Your Home Making You Happy? A raft of research now exists to support the idea that the spaces that surround us can benefit our health and wellbeing, from daylight to houseplants and natural materials – and colour has its own important part to play in the equation. The paper identifies that we respond to colour in two ways, emotionally and physically, and that it could be most beneficial to us if we take both into account when designing a room.
The report also touches on what a personal subject colour is – so it is only by tapping into our individual expression that we will feel the full benefits: it states, “if we wish to maximise the positive effects of colour in the home, consumers should be encouraged to be brave in their use of colour and to select colours that match their individual characteristics, preferences and ambitions.” A sentiment that Harlequin – and probably every other showroom at the Design Centre – can get behind.
Access the white paper here.