playing with colours

today I see rain and I see sunshine - I see huge rainbows - and colourful autumn leaves -
and I think about colours and about colour combinations - for doors, walls, rooms

since a while I am collecting, researching and observing all around colours
- and I came across Le Corbusier and his use of colours in architecture and interiors.

Here you see the 63 colours from the colour palettes LC 32 and LC 43 by Le Corbusier :

Le Corbusier’s sophisticated color theories, outlined in his Polychromie Architecturale writing (Le Corbusier Polychromie architecturale: Farbenklaviaturen von 1931 und 1959 / Color Keyboards from 1931 and 1959 / Les claviers de couleurs de 1931 et de 1959 (German, English and French Edition)), were influenced by his experiences as both an artist and an architect.

The color palettes he selected for Salubra (a swiss wallpaper maufacturer) were systematized in chromatic ‘keyboards’ with accompanying cut-out cards to isolate color combinations.

The LC 32 series are organized into groups based on mood, from which a smaller palette of three to five harmonious colors can be selected.

The stronger colors of the LC 43 series appear on one page, with color proximity and the cut-out cards enabling selection for two to three vividly contrasting colors.

This sounds like a perfect tool to find the best colour combinations, maybe some you do not even have thougt of. But the price of the book (299 Euro) scares me off and makes me try to trust my own feelings.

In case you are interested to know where to source these colours for your own painting project:
The swiss based company, kt.COLOR, founded by the chemist Katrin Trautwein, is a highly specialized manufacturer of fine paints for interior use, licensed the exclusive rights to manufacture the original Le Corbusier colors from Fondation Le Corbusier in 1999.

kt. COLOR showroom

At Farrow & Ball's website I found the following hints:

- a dark dramatic entrance creates a contrast to brighter rooms
- a dark (painted) floor makes a room appear wider
- for small dark room: use no white but bright colour
- grey is an elegant and cosy wall colour for a bedroom

----

more about Le Corbusier's colours used in interiors to come ....

.