Celebrating International Colour Day
21st March
It’s about to get a lot lighter and brighter. Yes, it’s the Spring Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere, but since 2009 there’s one more thing to acknowledge on 21stMarch, and that is International Colour Day (ICD)
It’s a day to celebrate this beautiful, inspirational, magical thing called colour, and what a thing it is to. Colour inspires us, it calms us and for sure we know it has a big part to play in our purchasing choices.
When someone says, “I want to work with colour”, I ask them which area of colour do you want to work with? The vastness and choice of a career in colour is as wide and as unique as the spectrum itself.
To push the boundaries of my own field of expertise, I asked four friends and colleagues who work with colour to share a little about what they do.
Fashion, Interiors, Vibrational healing and Wellbeing, are all areas I am fascinated by, so what better time to share that fascination than on International Colour Day.
Fashion
When I realised it was time to move back to the UK from Portugal, I wasn’t what you would call delighted with the idea. However, as much as I resisted, I knew it was time. I had my new address but didn’t know the postcode, so Google searched it.
Much to my amazement and surprise, there listed on Google maps next to my new home, was my soon to be neighbour, ‘Colour Analyst, Sarah Morgan-Birch’. When I saw colour I knew all would ok, I’d learnt over the years that when colour showed up it was guiding me to the right path.
After initial introductions and over the coming weeks and months we spent hours talking colour, colour, and yet more colour. Sarah’s speciality was Colour Analysis, and as I discovered it involved so much more than finding which season you belong to.
Here’s what Sarah has to say;
Look Into My Eyes..
“Hello and welcome to International Colour Day. Mark asked me to write a couple of paragraphs, so, being a practical soul, I wanted to give as much value as I could in that space.
I have worked as a personal colour analyst for 17 years, and my superpower is to squint briefly at someone and tell them their ‘best’ colours. If I can get close enough, I look deeply into their eyes - they reveal so many clues as to which colours suit them.
And this is something you can do for yourself! Simply take a photograph or your eye, then zoom in until the colours in your iris appear pixelated. I can pretty much guarantee that you will suit those colours if translated into clothing, accessories and jewellery.
And it’s so much more detailed than just ‘blue’ or ‘brown’. For example, the blue eye on the right has soft, mid-tone flecks of sea green, lilac, soft navy and grey.
The blue eye on the left is much brighter, with warm tones of gold, tan, teal, turquoise and deep green. The right eye is cool (i.e. silver jewellery) and the left eye is warm (gold jewellery).
If you want to complete the picture, wear the lightest and darkest shades of your hair, and you will instantly appear cohesive and pulled together. There are many more colours in a personal spectrum, but your eye and hair colours provide clues to the building blocks of your wardrobe.”
Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahmorganbirch
Interiors
I’ve always had a love of interiors, one of my favourite times of the day is when it’s just getting dark, but not yet quite dark enough to close the curtains, but definitely needing some form of lighting switched on. Yes, I am one of those people that enjoys seeing how people have put their homes together by casually throwing a glance through the open curtains as I walk on by.
Over the years I have had the honour and privilege of staying and visiting some quite spectacular houses and homes around the world, from small shacks to stately homes and palaces and everything in-between. The commonality is always the presence of colour, be it walls, objects, furniture and art, and with colour, I include black and white too.
Just recently I discovered the rich jewel colours and the plush opulent fabrics in the work of textile designer Leila Vibert-Stokes.
Here’s what Leila had to say;
"It is never about colour with textile design - it is always about colours. Specifically, the careful ways in which they are combined, selected to play off one another. Choosing a set of colours to work with is just the start - how much of each will you use? Will it be the background colour or a small highlight? What colours will it be next to? Is it what you would expect or surprising? And above all - what feelings do you want to evoke? Navy can be seen as traditional and demure when paired with cream but when used next to bold, bright cushions like I have in this shoot it becomes opulent, jewel like, rich and indulgent.
Colour is so evocative, personal and emotional that it is the perfect way to make your home feel joyful and welcoming. It can completely change the feel of room with a simple splash of paint or set of cushions. For colour to lift your home, it must above all feel personal. What makes me feel happy and joyful may seem over the top and stressful to a minimalist. Never underestimate the power of the objects you are surrounded by; a blanket in rich and opulent tones brings glamour to a TV evening and a beautiful artwork that speaks to you lifts spirits each time you walk past. One of my favourite clients sums it up it perfectly - “I love your designs Leila; they always make me smile”. What more could you ask for from your home? "
You can discover more at www.leila-vibert-stokes.com
Vibrational Healing with sound
I met Nicola some years ago when I was working down on the Spanish Costa del Sol. When we met Nicola taught me the vowel sounds for each of the chakras, which I still sometimes use today. Toning these sounds seems to connect, ground and balance me all at the same time. Nicola later took my Colour PsychoDynamics training course to deepen further her already vast knowledge and experience of colour as a living energy.
Now living in the Algarve, I asked Nicola to write something in relation to colour and sound.
Here’s what she had to say;
“Sound and colour are inextricably woven together, and can both be measured in frequencies. Light is the fastest traveller, and I find it interesting that the speed of sound is faster through water than through air. Synaesthesia is a perception which some people have, where they can listen to music and see colours. This means that you are experiencing one sense through another.
Both sound and colour can be used for healing as they work in a similar way, helping to balance and clear blockages and replenish the energetic and physical bodies. In my work as a sound healer, I mainly use Alchemy crystal bowls made by Crystaltones. These are made with 99.99% clear quartz plus other gemstones and minerals. They contain both the frequency and information of the various crystals and also colour frequencies. All this is woven together with sound, thereby having many beneficial effects.
Rudolf Steiner said that when we sleep at night, we travel to a dimension that is made of vibrations of both colour and sound. This is why when people receive an Alchemy crystal bowl healing session, they often feel that they are going to a place that is already very familiar to them. Therefore this rainbow bridge of colours and sounds can help to connect our daytime reality to our dreamtime dimensions, giving us a deeper sense of wholeness and unity.
The pure tones of crystal bowls and other instruments used for sound healing, such as the voice, throw out octaves of harmonics or overtones, just as pure white light will fragment into rainbow colours. This is where the magic can really be felt.”
Nicola’s website www.soundsmagical.com
Wellbeing
On one of my first trips to Dubai I was excitedly contacted by a lady who had signed up for one of my workshops. She told me that she too had a love of colour and worked by combining colour and aroma. I’m always excited and fascinated to meet people who share a love of colour, even more so when it’s something you don’t normally think about combining together.
Have you ever considered what colour would smell like?
Well Shahida Siddique had and has been doing so for a number of years, for she is the owner and president of Altearah Bio Emotive Cosmetics. Altearah bio has developed a tailor-made treatment method based on the virtues of aromatherapy, olfactotherapy and chromotherapy. Composed of 100% natural essential oils, the certified organic products are available in 14 colourful emotions, 14 highly active and inspiring treatments for body and mind.
There’s a whole science to using the exact amount and combination of organic essential oils, some of which are produced locally to Altearah Bio HQ in the South of France, to create aromas that send your senses into divine ecstasy. Each of the unique blends equate vibrationally and visually to the 14 colours used in the Altearah Bio selection.
Colour never smelt so good!
Take the quiz on the website to find out which colour you need now www.altearah.ae
Also check the main website www.altearah.com
Thank you Sarah, Leila, Nicola and Shahida for sharing your own love of colour.
Colour, this day is your day, a day for celebrating and recognising the magic and the joy that you are and all that you bring to our lives.
We honour and cherish you for being a reminder that you are always there, always ready to support and to serve however we want you to be.
Colour, thank you.
“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours;
let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.”
Khalil Gibran
Happy International Colour Day,
Until soon,
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