"Colour is unavoidable and irresistible and always worth the effort of trying to understand its many wonders"
My colour story..
"I’m afraid of colour," or "Colour is so difficult" – these are words I hear often from my clients. And it’s no wonder. Colour theory is not something you master and move on from. It’s a lifelong study; expansive, elusive, and deeply alive.
Colour does not exist without light. It is the most ephemeral element in a home. A single hue can appear as soft green in southern morning light, dull yellow in a northern room, and glowing grey as the day gives way to dusk.
It takes time and attention to understand how colour behaves in different kinds of light, and how to compose palettes that feel intentional, balanced, and in harmony with both the space and the people who inhabit it.
I believe a home should reflect the personalities who live there. With the right colours, we can create safety, calm, clarity even joy and creative momentum.
The artist Paul Klee once wrote, “Colour is the place where our brain and the universe meet.” I’ve always been drawn to the way artists speak of colour – not as surface or styling, but as something spiritual. A way to meet ourselves more honestly, and to enter other worlds.
Imagine a world in greyscale. No green meadows, no blue ocean, no fiery sunset. Would we feel the same joy, inspiration, or energy in such a world? Colour surrounds us, shapes us, stirs us, whether we realise it or not. Most of its impact is quiet, unconscious.
Colour evokes memory. It invites emotion. It helps us make meaning. To me, colour is a bridge between the visible and the invisible, between what we feel and what we choose. It is a subtle compass that guides us through moments, moods and decisions.
My fascination with colour began early. As a child, I used to wonder if colours could help me learn better in the grey-and-white classrooms at school. Later, while studying interior design in Barcelona, I was deeply inspired by the work of Gaudí his vivid, expressive use of colour was architecture in full conversation with life.
When I returned to Sweden in 2008, after three years of studying design in Barcelona, the landscape felt pale quiet, almost absent of colour. In that stillness, I made a quiet promise to myself: to explore the full potential of colour, and to one day share what I discovered with others.
Through years of study in colour psychology and human behaviour, I’ve come to see how colour shapes our thoughts, emotions, and choices and how it can create powerful connections between us and the world around us.
The Subtle Language of Colour
Colour is not an object. It is a perception – dependent on light, context, and the sensitivity of the human eye. We only see colour because we are biologically wired to do so – through cones and rods in the retina. But what we see is not fixed. Colour is not absolute; it is relational.
Two people may perceive the same hue differently. And even in the same eye, colour changes depending on what surrounds it. A pale pink might appear vibrant when placed next to grey, but muted and almost colourless when framed by a deeper shade of pink. The same grey can seem darker next to white, and lighter next to black.
This is why no colour should ever be chosen in isolation. Colour must be experienced in its environment, in its context, in its light.
It is shaped by time of day, the nature of the materials, and the emotional intention of the space. It behaves differently in the early morning than it does at dusk. It reflects, absorbs, softens or sharpens always in dialogue with what is around it. As designers and architects, we are not selecting colours we are composing relationships between light, surface, form and feeling.
And any colour will change depending on time of day, orientation, material, and the lighting in the space. Colour is not a static property. It is responsive relational.
To work with colour is to listen to a conversation that is always moving.
Tip: Always test colour samples in the space where they will eventually live
While the NCS system offers a shared framework, manufacturers may reach the same code through different pigment compositions. What appears identical on a chart can behave quite differently once applied to a surface in context, in light, in time.
Consider a grey mixed from black and white, versus a grey derived from a complementary pair like green and red, softened with white. On paper, they may seem indistinguishable. But as natural light shifts throughout the day, their tonal structures unfold. One may read as muted, the other unexpectedly warm.
This is the phenomenon of metamerism when colours that appear alike in one light reveal their dissonance in another. To design with colour is to design relationally: with light, with materials, with atmosphere. Because no colour exists alone. And no space is ever static.
With colour, the surface of an object can shift it can be softened, fractured, fragmented, distorted or redefined. Blue may cause the form to flatten, yellow can make it bulge, green often reads as static, while red introduces movement and tension. Once this is understood, colour becomes a tool to reshape form itself to invert, exaggerate or dissolve it. In this way, colour is not applied to form it transforms it.
"Form follows colour"
– SARA GARANTY
The challenge in every design project lies in combining materials with what truly matters. How do we weave the most essential aspects of life into spaces, interiors, and architecture? Architecture and design should always be guided by human values and priorities never the other way around.
Our homes should be shaped by real human needs and daily rituals, not just by bricks and mortar. In practice, this isn’t always easy. Building processes tend to be transactional and measurable, led by control, timelines, and budgets. But how do we measure wellbeing? Joy? Closeness? Freedom, friendship, beauty or love?
My best design advice is to honour the quiet, everyday moments and elevate them through thoughtful colour and design. To create a home that holds belonging and allows for dreaming. Design and colour offer a constructed reality. But that reality must be built around the genuine needs and activities of those who live there.
Colour, when used intentionally, brings emotion to the forefront and allows us to create spaces that become physical expressions of human behaviour. For me, the home is a practical container for emotional life. A place to be ourselves. A space where we grow, connect, and create the intimate rituals that give our lives meaning.
I have long believed in the power of colour to enhance our lives. I dream of a world where colour is seen, understood, and fully embraced where we move beyond hesitation and into awareness.
A global colour revolution, where we come to recognise its potential to support wellbeing, deepen connection, and reflect who we truly are. Because colour is never just decoration.It is one of our most powerful tools for creating harmonious and human environments.
Colour Psychology and Neuroaesthetics
A meeting point between science, philosophy, and human experience
The relationship between colour and the human psyche is ancient. As early as in Ancient Egypt, colour was used in healing practices, each hue believed to hold specific effects on the body and soul. These early traditions laid the foundation for what we now recognise as colour therapy and, in a more structured form, colour psychology.
In the early 19th century, the German poet and thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published Theory of Colours (1810), describing how certain colours evoke emotional responses. His work departed from the purely optical focus of Newtonian science and invited a more human, experiential understanding of colour. Later, neurologist Kurt Goldstein explored the physiological effects of colour in clinical settings, demonstrating that certain hues could influence motor function and mood. Carl Jung, too, brought colour into the psychological realm, using it as a symbolic and therapeutic tool. He viewed colours as expressions of the unconscious and worked with mandalas and coloured imagery to help patients access deeper layers of the self.
While colour psychology explores the emotional and behavioural effects of colour, neuroaesthetics offers a more recent and neurological lens. Coined by neurobiologist Semir Zeki in the late 1990s, neuroaesthetics investigates how the brain responds to beauty, pattern, harmony and artistic expression. Research shows that exposure to aesthetically pleasing environments can reduce stress, enhance cognitive function, and increase wellbeing. Certain areas of the brain, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, are activated during aesthetic experiences, suggesting a deep connection between perception and emotion. This has led to design strategies rooted in neuroscience, aimed at creating spaces that promote calm, clarity and emotional resonance.
But these ideas are not new. The ancient Greeks, particularly Plato and Aristotle, wrote extensively on the role of beauty in cultivating the good and the true. For them, aesthetics was not superficial it was essential to the human experience. Beauty had the power to uplift, to clarify, and to align us with something deeper than ourselves.
Today, colour psychology and neuroaesthetics carry these philosophical insights into contemporary design and architecture. Together, they remind us that design is not only about objects or function but about how we feel, what we remember, and how we connect. To work with colour and form is to work with perception, atmosphere, and emotion. It is to shape space not only around human activity, but around human meaning. In this light, colour is far more than decoration. It becomes one of our most subtle and powerful tools for designing spaces that care for us spaces where we can feel, reflect, and evolve.
Online course: Mastering Colour in Interior Design
Begin whenever you’re ready
Create spaces that feel as good as they look
This course is for anyone who wants to use colour with more confidence, clarity and purpose. Whether you're redecorating a single room or working professionally with interiors, you'll learn how to select and combine colours in ways that reflect personality, support wellbeing, and elevate the atmosphere of a space.
We explore the fundamentals of colour theory, colour psychology, and practical application with a strong focus on light, materiality, and emotional experience.
You’ll gain:
-
A deeper understanding of how colour behaves in space
-
Tools for creating harmonious and expressive interiors
-
Insight into how colour affects mood, energy and perception
-
A personal colour compass to guide your design choices
-
No previous experience needed – just a curiosity for colour and a desire to create with intention.