Plastique

Colour is an immaterial phenomenon. It is generated by our senses through seemingly paradoxical mechanisms of reflection and absorption of light. When we modify material to appear colourful this volatility becomes very tangible.

The journey into colour as a matter of design started with the woollen wall-coverings in the blue room of Schloss Hollenegg that have almost completely turned into a moss-green. Solely some areas masked from daylight bear witness of the colour once intended. The analysis of the transformation process of what once was blue, led to the understanding that the immaterial colour as we perceive it often has a very material origin; except that is for the screens we use today. Physical colour is made from minerals, retrieved from plants, extracted through chemical reactions between organic and inorganic materials or microbial processes. Throughout the ages we have shown a deep desire, done relentless efforts, manifested feverish economic interest in developing colour recipes with ever brighter hues and versatile applications for the design of a more colourful environment.

Vitrum is the latin word for both glass and the woad plant, yielding indigo.

From the Egyptians to the “barbaric” Celts, blue has a history of its own. But if it weren’t for the acceptance of blue by Christian religion, neither the cobalt blue stained glass windows of the Basilica of Saint Denis nor the altarpiece of Van Eyck would exist as we know them today.

Vitrum was commissioned by the Design Museum Ghent for the exhibition Kleureyck, Van Eyck’s Colours in Design, 2020.