Repaint the apartment, but how? Axel Venn explains in an interview with n-tv.de which colors are good for a room and which are not. Venn is an Emerging Professor of Color Design, Trendscouting and Perception Sciences. He does research in the field of colors, works as a designer and color artist.
How do I find out what my favorite wall color is?
Axel Venn: You should get a simple color box with 12 colors, plus opaque white and brush. And so you try to put his ideas on paper. Everyone really can. You should not choose a color from the outset, but try it out and mix it again and again. This mixing is especially important. Only in the form of this process can you find your favorite color. It is a process of self-discovery.
How many shades should one have in his home?
It is best to choose a scale of four colors. And then it is always good to start in a room with the brightest tone and finally to set accents. The ceiling color is usually the brightest pitch and then comes in each room a further tone added. For example, the wall paint in the kitchen can be a very gentle pastel ivy green and then a gray cream tone. And these colors are then the basis for the living room and the corridor. In the hallway then perhaps the gray tone of the bright ceiling tone and it comes to a creamy clay. And in the living room, this cream clay is then found on two walls again. This is the side of reassurance and then you can choose an exciting sound. For example, a gentle, gray bleu would fit well.
If I still have difficulties with the color choice: Which colors belong to the feel-good colors?
These are the so-called Inkarnat colors. This is the name of the colors of the skin and especially of the face. We always like incarnate colors. They soothe and reassure us. The colors range from a medium cream to a light bronze tone or even darker. As a color scheme, incarnate colors are particularly suitable.
In other words, the best choice is to use the colors of the incarnate as a reason and then look for an accent?
Right. A tinted white-gray tone is also very chic to Inkarnat. To find the right accent for yourself, you can also take the color box again to help. You simply try it out, then put the different tones in a scale in front of you and select it.
For your book “Colors for Body, Mind and Soul” you have asked around 60 people for their color interpretation of terms. Do not you get completely different results? Does not everyone have a different color idea of terms like “fresh” or “relaxing”?
No, not right. They are very similar. This is due to evolutionary developments. One not only tries to find the harmony with oneself, but also with different persons that one knows. You keep asking yourself: What would the others like?
If you have finally chosen a color and painted on the wall, then there is no risk that you have this color quickly “over”?
One thing is always important: you always need two colors in one room. One color is for reassurance and the other for stimulation. You look in one direction, where the color is soft, you hardly feel the color and the other tone in the room can be a small portion loud. That’s right. The colors have to create a mood barometer.
Most of the apartments you enter are painted white. Is this a good idea?
That’s the worst idea out there. Humans can differentiate a good 9 million colors. And then he just picks up the sound, which is not a color. I do not understand that. White is boring and fading. I do not understand how to communicate in white spaces.
What does Weiß do with us?
White is not stimulating. If you are discussing, you are most in nicely decorated restaurants. You sit at a table, there are warm tones around you and then the conversation flows. There are no conversations in the white room, no fantasies are developed and it is not very emotional.
Why are so many walls painted white?
White was a typical wave. Especially in Berlin. Everything is white in Berlin, that’s terrible, that probably has something to do with Prussian virtues. It should look as clean as possible. Previously, only cowsheds were white to keep insects out. Insects do not like white. And at some point White got into the apartments. Nowhere in the world is there as much white as in Germany. However, it was a long time in this country that apartments had to be whitewashed when moving out. This also led to this white cast.
But when I hang pictures on the wall, the monotone white is broken. Is not that okay?
That’s really different. Large pictures, a library or a fireplace make a room exciting. Then a white wall is okay. Nevertheless, I think: it is too bad to have white spaces. White walls can even scare you. I have also developed color concepts for dental practices, especially for pediatric dentists. Since the walls must not be white. Here, colors are important, which soothe, so gentle tones of hue. And in the waiting room are wicker furniture, which is particularly comfortable with pillows. With that, I tear out the world and also the children.
Are there timeless colors that always go?
Hue colors natural and pleasant light shades of gray, but also sky blue and cloud gray are wonderfully timeless colors. Then, however, a page in the room should be painted in an almost contrary color, that is, in a complementary color. So to blue fits green, in gray, a covered Milchton looks wonderful.
Which wall colors will be trend in 2019?
Colors of friendship are on the rise, stress-relieving tones too. Or colors that are gentle and breathing, that let us breath. So blue area tones. Or sounds that are minimalist. Bright colors in different nuances. Bleu to light gray is announced, but also yellow, which may flash out a bit sharper.
How are color trends determined?
This has something to do with how our world looks like right now. One wonders: what do people need? For example, the world does not tolerate white. White is too exhausting, too clean, too pure. Instead, the colors must be denser and more empathic. You have to contribute to the well-being. Incidentally, about 75 percent of the time people spend in their four walls. The ambience and the interior require much more sensual potential. Trends confirm this: Recreation area no. 1 is home.