Khrōmateket
I met Margrethe Odgaard during the summer of 2023 at a reception in Copenhagen. She said, ‘I owe you an interview.’ (We had talked about a feature for a previous issue of the bookazine, but something came up). She added, ‘We just took over an amazing place in Elsinore. We’re renovating it now, when we’re done you should visit.’
It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate start to a HÅNDVÆRK issue about colours than visiting Margrethe. For the past 20 years, she has worked as a colour designer for Danish and international companies, held colour workshops and maintained an artistic practice with colour as her key focus.
When I visited, in August 2024, I was welcomed into a universe where colour is viewed as a functional factor.
From HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 11
Margrethe Odgaard, b. 1978
2005 MFA, textile design, Danish School of Design (now Royal Danish Academy – Design)
Studied printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design, USA
2005–2007 printing assistant at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, USA
2007–2013 textile designer at Épice S.A.R.L., Paris, France
2008– Margrethe Odgaard Studio
2025– Khrōmatek, cofounder
Has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Denmark and abroad
and held many solo exhibitions,
most recently at Munkeruphus in 2019 (DK),
Willumsen’s Museum 2020 (DK)
and Galerie Maria Wettergren (Paris, France) 2024
The new place …
‘… is a great place to be,’ she says as I enter.
‘When we moved to Elsinore from Copenhagen in 2022, this space was available.
We took some time to figure out if it could function as our workspace. Originally, we had imagined something more industrial and raw.’
‘We’ includes Margrethe and her husband, the father of her children, furniture designer Rasmus Bækkel.
The setting is one of the oldest retail spaces in Elsinore, located on the waterfront, close to the terminal for the ferries to Sweden and within walking distance of the railway station, with regular connections to Copenhagen. For the past 400 years, the property has served as a wine and liquor shop. The interior is registered as worthy of preservation, and in its freshly renovated state and minimalist design, it appears simultaneously contemporary and steeped in history.
Margrethe immediately tells me about the colour scheme:
‘We painted all the old woodwork in a greyish linseed oil with a mix of burnt and raw green umber. The raw umber has a warm, almost sandy tone, while the burnt umber is a fairly cool grey. As a result, the colour temperature in the room varies with the changing light.’
The term ‘umber’ comes from the Latin word for shade. Umber pigment is a clayey earth containing iron and manganese. The colour has varying greyish, greenish and brownish notes, depending on where it was sourced and whether the pigment is burnt or raw.
Natural deposits of umber are found in Central and Southern Europe.
In the room towards the street, there is a large, tall table that can be used for meetings or as a worktable. The shelves are empty, apart from some large coloured ‘building blocks’.
Displayed in the window are parts of Margrethe’s installation ‘Colour Effects’, which was presented in the showroom of the textile company Kvadrat during the latest Salone del Mobile in Milan along with the 14 new colours she had designed for the Re-wool upholstery textile collection and her new upholstery fabric Azure Outdoor.
On the table are preliminary drafts for another new project for Kvadrat.
The next room is slightly darker and contains the computer stations. In the back, there is a large, bright room with a colour kitchen and a printing table. Underneath the building, there is a full-size basement that they are planning to turn into a wood workshop for Rasmus.
Has the new setting expanded or altered your practice? I ask.
‘The move has given us Khrōmatek. “Khrōma” is ancient Greek for “colour”, while “Tek” means a repository or collection. We define our Khrōmatek as “A creative space of colour crafting”. We will use our new location for colour workshops and plan to issue regular publications on colour.’
‘Rasmus designed both the building blocks on the shelves and the ones in the window. They are examples from a series of three-dimensional colour indexes that we will be working with in the Khrōmatek. In addition to being a furniture designer, Rasmus also has a real talent for concept development. Together, we want to build a place where colours are put into context, so that it can resonate directly with design and architecture.
I am also going to continue my practice as a colour designer, working with my regular clients and partners as well as helping others to discover the joy of working with colour.’
Please tell me about your collaborations.
‘I have had many over the years. Perhaps I should start somewhere else,’ says Margrethe. ‘I have been a fully independent designer since 2013. From 2007 to 2013, I worked part-time for Jan Machenhauer and Bess Nielsen’s Épice Paris (designing scarves and other accessories, as described in bookazine no. 8).
My breakthrough under my own name came in 2009, through a collaboration with Hay, which put my tablecloth “Fold Unfold” into production. Via Hay, I think, Ikea invited me to create a collection of 42 designs for them.
In 2013, when I stopped working with Épice, I was unsure what would be my more specific practice and contribution, going forward.
I decided to engage in an active search for the answer to this question and entered into several non-commercial explorative collaborations with people from other professions: a cook, a ceramic artist, a furniture designer and an architect, among others. Even back then, colour was my main passion – I have been keeping a colour journal since 2004, and my graduation project from the Design School was titled “Tribute to the colour brown” – but it was these collaborative projects that helped me realize that the way for me to be relevant is as a colour designer.’
Three of Margrethe Odgaard’s colour journals – with colour combinations recorded on trips to Japan, Morocco and Iceland from 2015 to 2017 – have been published in print. The others serve as an indispensable back catalogue for her work.
She is also the author of Shades of Light, a book from 2019 that contains 276 colours developed especially for the delicate Nordic light.
‘One of my partners was – and still is – furniture designer Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm. At one point, she said, “It’s time you stopped playing and began to take yourself seriously.” By then, I already had a wish list of companies I would like to work with, and I had begun to turn the list into reality.
At the top of the list was Kvadrat, and today, they are my primary client. The other wishes have also come true.
I have designed colours for anything from electronic devices and trains to furniture and all sorts of interior textiles. It has been exciting and a privilege to be able to put colour into so many different contexts.
Recently, I have begun to realize just how important my artistic practice – the part of my work that lets me explore the nature of colour in depth – is to me. As a consequence, I have begun to limit my design activities.
Today, I have an ongoing cooperation with Montana and Muuto, similar to my partnership with Kvadrat. As a textile artist, I am represented by Galerie Maria Wettergren in Paris.’
Margrethe Odgaard’s most recent exhibition as a textile artist was held at Galerie Maria Wettergren in 2024. Titled Dear Miaojin, it was inspired by Qiu Miaojin’s novel Last Words from Montmartre and consisted of 20 textile letters to the late author.
Your timing has been good.
‘Yes, that turned out to be the case, but I didn’t know that at the time.
I was interested in colours and carrying out self-initiated experiments back when everyone was favouring white, grey and beige. Now that colours are in demand, I am experienced.’
And successful, I add.
‘I am lucky but also hardworking,’ Margrethe replies. ‘It makes a huge difference to be able to make a living doing what you do. Now that I can, the feeling of success is not related to the degree of exposure or recognition I receive. What motivates me and gives me a sense of gratitude is knowing that I can make a contribution that is relevant to others.’
‘I often talk to my trainees about the path to success, telling them that they should not expect to walk out through the school gates and directly into a success. Success requires you to make an effort and find your voice.
During my childhood and youth, I was a conscientious, straight-A girl.
As a student, I made the mistake of trying to reason out the way to success, but in fact, to be a successful designer, you need to listen to the material and look for the answer there. The process has to unfold in the material, it’s not something you can reason out, if you want a good result.
I did not fully understand this until after I completed my studies.’
What or who helped you get there?
‘It was while I was working as a printing assistant at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia that my colour voice was truly awakened. We were a team of dedicated textile printers from all over the world, each of us bringing our own particular colour perception and language to the table, and this sparked my curiosity to get to know my own colour identity.
The most decisive factor, however, was probably my seven years with Épice and Jan Machenhauer. Jan took me on as an apprentice. I was so fortunate to work with him. He has a keen sense of aesthetic and quality in every regard, including colour.
Prior to every new Épice collection, a month was set aside for painting new colour samples by hand. An endless number of colours which we then whittled down to the ones we would use in the particular collection.
I did that twice a year for seven years.
This approach was originally introduced by my predecessor, textile designer Lisbet Friis.
We would often debate reusing preliminary work from previous collections, but ultimately, we always concluded that it is necessary to paint new colours in order to capture the present time and stay relevant.’
‘I am very systematic and mathematical as well as musical. I played the piano as a child, and for a long time I was convinced that I would be a pianist.
Playing a musical instrument is also based on a system.
I never use recipes, but my approach is always structured and based on given parameters. For example, I always know how many colours I am looking for.’
How do you go about that search?
‘It depends on the intended outcome, but I usually create my samples using either textile dyes, gouache or, as in this case, pigments.’ Now we are in the colour kitchen. Margrethe is demonstrating how she mixes pigments with casein to make a tempera which she will apply to one of the building blocks in her and Rasmus’s colour index.
Unlike watercolour, water-based gouache is an opaque, covering artists’ colour. It consists of pigments dissolved in water and mixed with a binder.
Gouache is matt and quick-drying. Like watercolour, dry gouache can be dissolved again using water.
Casein tempera is made by mixing casein (a binder derived from milk that is also available in powder form) with oil (for example linseed oil) and pigment. Tempera is slow to dry and set but is very durable.
Margrethe shows me her collection of carefully recorded colours in a ring binder and on a large poster on the wall above the printing table. They serve as her starting point, along with her colour journals and collected effects, including rocks. Such a ‘colour mapping’ precedes every project.
You don’t use the existing colour systems in your search?
‘You can compare the existing systems to the notes of a digital keyboard. Colours that you discover by painting samples are much more poetic, like the notes of a piano, which can be tuned and has resonance.
It is important to distinguish between when to play one instrument and when to play the other.’
‘The existing colour systems, such as NCS, are useful tools if you later need to translate the colours you created into a system that can be decoded by a production company.
If I want to find this particular purple, it’s easier if I have something to point to.’
NCS – Natural Colour System® is an international colour system developed by the Scandinavian Colour Institute in Sweden.
NCS colours are defined by ratios of red (R), blue (B), green (G) and yellow (Y) as well as black (S) and white (W).
The system allows for precise cross-industrial communication about colour between designers and manufacturers, retailers and clients.
Time for lunch
We pick up some open sandwiches next door. Margrethe tells me how much she enjoys her sense of connection with the local community.
‘I can interview myself while you eat,’ she says, as she pushes the tray towards me.
‘It’s a common misunderstanding that having a sense of colour is an inborn trait, unlike other sensibilities, which can be learned.
However, you may of course be born with a certain “ear” for colour.’
‘I have also gradually come to realize that it is not just the colour that interests me but also light reflection – what happens when the light strikes the surface.
Knowing how much light affects us, and that without light, we would perish, my colour work is all about finding the beautiful light waves.
Naturally, the surface material plays an important role, but skilled craftspeople can always push the material in the optimal direction.
My collaboration with Montana and their paint developer is a good example. In a long and thorough process, with my involvement throughout, she was able to turn my gouache sample into a stable industrial paint without compromising the poetry of the colour.’
She adds, ‘My task is to take it up a level – to where colour relates to people and makes a positive difference in their everyday lives.
We may view colour as a fourth dimension. To understand how colours influence a given form, we can illustrate it using similarly sized cubes with colours uniformly applied – a deep, dark blue, a vermillion orange and a pale yellow.
Viewed in a spatial context, they will appear different, and you might prefer one cube over any of the two others. The colour has become the emotional part of the structure – the fourth dimension.’
‘I never aim to provide a clear-cut answer but instead seek to bring reflection into the discussion. Like everyone else who works with colour, I am interested in seeing what happens in the reception of the colours.
I would like to move away from the subjective perspective on colours and search instead for a deeper understanding of how colours work: a sort of objective understanding of the function of colour. That may not be entirely possible, but this search for universal aspects in colour perception can lead to some interesting insights.’
Margrethe gets up and returns with a parcel: ‘Colour Effect Cards – you can take these home. The cards are part of the material we plan to use in our Khrōmatek. They are based on a method I have been using for more than ten years in the workshops I’ve held in part in cooperation with the Danish Association of Architects.’
Margrethe comes from a family of teachers, folk high school people and clergy. ‘Maybe that explains my passion for education,’ she says with a smile, adding, ‘I actually thrive in this precarious role.’
Thus, what is new in their life is not Margrethe’s engagement with education but the fact that it is now happening under their own roof, that Rasmus is getting involved, and that Margrethe is dedicating more of her time to sharing her experience and knowledge about colour as a function and colour in relation to form, rather than trying to design colour schemes for everything in the world – a shift that is partially driven by a desire to free up more time for her artistic practice.
‘There are so many architects and designers who would like to work with colour design. Many of them have both theoretical knowledge and a good sense of colours and their effects, but they often seem to lack a language for this insight and struggle to communicate with their clients,’ says Margrethe. ‘This insecurity about colour stems, in part, from the lack of training in colour theory in education. In a hectic everyday life with deadlines and expectations, it is important to have a method and tools for managing the colour design process and to explain your choices.
This insecurity is also about the fear of giving up control. Colour design involves taking a risk; you have to show your hand.
In colour design, the first step is accepting this loss of control. In return, if you dare to be curious and take a risk, you have the chance to succeed at a whole different level.
In my experience, using my method in a working group can produce a high degree of consensus about both the emotional and the sensory effect of a colour – resulting in a colour design that is not based on subjective taste but rests on a form of objectivity.’
Margrethe Odgaard’s Colour Effect Cards consist of two sets of cards with instructions in how to use them at three different professional levels. Each of the 35 warm beige Emotion cards has a printed statement, for example ‘I feel lighthearted’, ‘I feel relaxed’, ‘I feel weightless’, ‘I feel melancholic’, ‘I feel safe’ or ‘I feel motivated’.
The 35 grey Action cards describe the sensory effect of a given colour through categories, such as ‘Activating colours’, ‘Empowering colours’, ‘Captivating colours’ and ‘Enveloping colours’.
On my way out the door, I ask, Business considerations aside, what has the move to Elsinore meant to you on a personal level?
‘I have actually given that quite a bit of thought,’ says Margrethe. ‘People often ask me where I find my inspiration, and I have come to realize that inspiration is something you’re focused on while you’re searching for your voice, perhaps while you’re young. Away from Copenhagen, I find a calmer focus, and there are fewer impressions.
Moving out of the city has given my inner voice much more room, and my own source of inspiration has grown larger and clearer while I have been living here.’
Is there anything you miss?
‘Well, good takeaway, maybe. On the other hand, I have become a capable sourdough baker and embraced gardening.’
Jeg traf Margrethe Odgaard i sommeren 2023 til en reception i København, hun sagde: “Jeg skylder dig et interview” (vi havde talt om et portræt til et tidligere bookazine, men noget kom i vejen) – og hun fortsatte: “Vi har netop overtaget et helt fantastisk sted i Helsingør, vi skal lige have det sat i stand, så skal du komme på besøg.”
Hvad kunne være mere oplagt end at indlede arbejdet med et HÅNDVÆRK om farver med et besøg hos Margrethe. Hun har de seneste 20 år farvesat for danske og internationale virksomheder, har holdt workshops om farver og har desuden en praksis som udøvende tekstilkunstner med farven som omdrejningspunkt.
Jeg meldte min ankomst i august 2024 og blev budt velkommen i et univers, hvor farven forstås som en funktion.
Det nye sted
– “er et godt sted at være”, siger hun, da jeg træder ind ad døren.
“Vi flyttede privat til Helsingør fra København i 2022 og fik samtidig lokalerne her tilbudt.
Vi brugte lidt tid til at finde ud af, om rammerne kunne understøtte vores virke. Vi havde oprindelig forestillet os noget mere industrielt og råt.”
‘Vi’ er – foruden Margrethe selv – hendes mand og far til hendes børn, Rasmus Bækkel, som er møbelformgiver.
Lokalet er et af Helsingørs ældste butikslejemål, beliggende i første række med fronten mod sverigesfærgerne og gangafstand til toget mod København. Det har i 400 år tjent som vin- og spiritusforretning og fremstår med sit bevaringsværdige og nu renoverede interiør og sin minimalistiske indretning både moderne og forankret.
Margrethe er straks i gang med at tale om farver:
“Vi har malet alt det gamle træværk med linolie i en grålig tone, som er en blanding af ubrændt og brændt grøn umbra. Den ubrændte umbra er varm, næsten sandfarvet, den brændte umbra er ret kold grå, hvilket betyder, at farvetemperaturen i rummet ligger og bølger i takt med lysets skiften.”
Benævnelsen ‘umbra’ stammer fra latin og betyder skygge. Pigmentet umbra er en jern- og manganholdig leret jordart. Farven varierer i grålige, grønlige og brunlige toner, afhængigt af hvor den stammer fra, og om den er brændt eller ubrændt.
Der er naturlige forekomster af umbra i Mellem- og Sydeuropa.
Lokalet mod gaden er møbleret med et stort, højt bord, som kan tjene som både møde- og arbejdsbord. Hylderne er tomme, bortset fra nogle store farvede ‘byggeklodser’.
I vinduet står dele af Margrethes installation “Colour Effects”, som blev vist i Kvadrats showroom under seneste Salone del Mobile i Milano, hvor også hendes 14 nye farver til møbelstoffet Re-wool og hendes nye møbelstof Azure Outdoor blev afsløret.
På bordet ligger forarbejde til et nyt projekt for samme Kvadrat.
Næste rum er lidt mørkere, her er der computerarbejdspladser. Længst inde, i et stort, lyst rum, er der farvekøkken og trykbord. Under hele lejemålet er der kælder, som med tiden skal indrettes til Rasmus’ træværksted.
Har de nye lokaler tilført eller forandret noget i din virksomhed? spørger jeg.
“Flytningen har givet os Khrōmatek. Khrōma er oldgræsk for farve. Tek betegner et opbevaringssted eller en samling. Vi definerer vores Khrōmatek som ‘A creative space of colour crafting’. Vi vil bruge vores nye sted som ramme om farveworkshops, og så planlægger vi regelmæssigt at udgive tryksager omkring farve.”
“Rasmus har formgivet både byggeklodserne i reolen og dem i vinduet, de er forskellige versioner af en serie tredimensionelle farveindekser, som vi skal arbejde med i Khrōmateket. Han er foruden at være møbelformgiver også dygtig konceptuelt, og sammen vil vi skabe det her sted, hvor farve bliver sat i kontekst, så den resonerer direkte med designformgivning og arkitektur.
Jeg skal også fortsat farvesætte, blandt andet skal jeg passe mine faste samarbejder, men jeg vil også gerne hjælpe andre til at finde glæden ved at arbejde med farver.”
Du skal fortælle mig om dine samarbejder.
“Dem har jeg haft rigtig mange af gennem årene. Må jeg starte et andet sted?” spørger Margrethe og fortsætter, “jeg har været 100% selvstændig designer siden 2013.
Fra 2007 til 2013 arbejdede jeg deltids for Jan Machenhauer og Bess Nielsens Épice (design af tørklæder og andet tilbehør omtalt i bookazine 8).
Mit gennembrud i eget navn var med Hay i 2009, hvor de satte min dug ‘Fold Unfold’ i produktion. Via Hay, tror jeg, kom Ikea og spurgte, om jeg ville designe en kollektion på 42 designs for dem.
I 2013, da jeg stoppede hos Épice, var det stadig et åbent spørgsmål for mig, hvad jeg mere specifikt kunne og skulle bidrage med fremadrettet.
Jeg besluttede mig for aktivt at søge efter svaret på mit spørgsmål og indledte en række ikke kommercielle undersøgende samarbejder med andre fagligheder; en kok, en keramiker, en møbeldesigner og en arkitekt, blandt andet. Selvom farven allerede da var min største passion – jeg har ført farvedagbog siden 2004, og jeg tog afgang på designskolen med et projekt, jeg kaldte ‘En hyldest til farven brun’ – så var det gennem mine samarbejder, jeg forstod, at det er som farvedesigner, jeg er relevant.”
Tre af Margrethe Odgaards farvedagbøger, med farvekombinationer registreret på rejser til Japan, Marokko og Island i perioden 2015-2017, er udgivet på tryk, de resterende fungerer som hendes eget uundværlige bagkatalog.
Hun er desuden forfatter til bogen Shades of Light fra 2019, som indeholder 276 farver udviklet specielt til det sarte nordlige lys.
“En af mine samarbejdspartnere var og er møbeldesigner Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm. Jeg erindrer, at hun på et tidspunkt sagde: ‘Nu er tiden inde til, at du holder op med at lege og begynder at tage dig selv alvorligt’. Jeg havde da allerede skrevet en ønskeseddel med navne på de virksomheder, jeg gerne ville have et samarbejde med, og jeg var i gang med at indfri mine ønsker.
Øverst på listen stod Kvadrat – de er nu min primære kunde. De andre ønsker er også gået i opfyldelse.
Jeg har farvesat alt fra elektroniske devices og toge til møbler og indretningstekstiler af enhver slags. Det har både været spændende og et privilegie at få mulighed for at sætte farver ind i så mange forskellige sammenhænge.
Den seneste tid har jeg indset, at min kunstneriske praksis – den del af mit virke, hvor jeg graver ned i at forstå farvens væsen – er utrolig vigtig for mig. Derfor er jeg begyndt at begrænse mine designrettede aktiviteter.
Nu har jeg, ligesom jeg har det med Kvadrat, et løbende samarbejde med Montana og Muuto. Som tekstilkunstner er jeg kommet ind hos Galerie Maria Wettergren i Paris.”
Margrethe Odgaards seneste udstilling som tekstilkunstner fandt sted i Galerie Maria Wettergren i 2024. Udstillingen med titlen “Dear Miaojin” var inspireret af Qiu Miaojins roman Last Words from Montmartre og bestod af 20 tekstile breve til den afdøde forfatter.
Din timing har været god.
“Ja, det har den vist sig at være, men det vidste jeg ikke på forhånd.
Jeg interesserede mig også for farver og foretog en lang række selvinitierede undersøgelser, da alle foretrak hvid, grå og beige. Nu, hvor farver er efterspurgte, er jeg erfaren.”
Og succesrig.
“Jeg er heldig, men også hårdtarbejdende”, svarer Margrethe og fortsætter, “det gør en kæmpe forskel at kunne leve af sit virke. Når det er på plads, så handler følelsen af succes ikke om den eksponering eller anerkendelse, jeg opnår. Det, som motiverer mig og giver mig en følelse af taknemmelighed, er at vide, at jeg kan bidrage med noget, som er relevant for andre mennesker.”
“Jeg taler ofte med mine praktikanter om vejen til succes, og om at man ikke skal forvente at træde ud gennem skolens port og direkte ind i en succes. Succes kræver, at man arbejder og finder sin egen stemme.
Jeg var som barn og ung det, man nu kalder en 12-talspige.
Under min uddannelse begik jeg den fejl, at jeg med mit gode hoved forsøgte at analysere mig frem til succes, men pointen er, at for at få succes som designer skal man lytte til og lede efter svaret i materialet. Processen er nødt til at foregå i materialet og kan ikke tænkes i hovedet, hvis det skal blive rigtig godt.
Det var først, efter jeg var færdiguddannet, at jeg fik den indsigt.”
Hvad eller hvem hjalp den på vej?
“Det var, mens jeg arbejdede som printassistent på The Fabric Workshop and Museum i Philadelphia, at min farvestemme for alvor vågnede. Vi var et team af dedikerede stoftrykkere fra mange forskellige steder i verden, som kom med hvert vores farvesyn og farvesprog, og det startede min nysgerrighed efter at lære min egen farveidentitet at kende.
Men mest afgørende var nok mine syv år med Épice og Jan Machenhauer. Hos Jan var jeg i mesterlære. Det var enormt heldigt, at jeg landede der. Han har et stort æstetisk overblik og er kvalitetsbevidst i alle henseender, også i forhold til farver.
Forud for hver Épice-kollektion var der afsat en måned til at male nye farver op i hånden. Uendelig mange farver, som vi sorterede ned til det antal, som skulle bruges i kollektionen.
Sådan gjorde jeg to gange om året i syv år.
Metoden blev i sin tid indført af tekstildesigner Lisbet Friis, som var min forgænger på posten.
Vi diskuterede ofte, om vi kunne genbruge tidligere kollektioners forarbejde, men vendte altid tilbage til, at det er nødvendigt at male nye farver op for at fange tiden og lave relevante farver.”
“Jeg er både meget systematisk og matematisk, samtidig er jeg musikalsk. Jeg spillede klaver hele min barndom og troede, indtil jeg var ret gammel, at jeg skulle være pianist.
At spille et instrument er også at udgå fra et system.
Jeg arbejder aldrig med opskrifter, men altid med struktur og givne forudsætninger, for eksempel ved jeg på forhånd, hvor mange farver jeg skal lede efter.”
Hvordan leder du?
“Det afhænger af, hvor jeg skal ende, men jeg maler som regel op med enten tekstilfarver, gouache eller som her med pigmenter”. Vi står nu i farvekøkkenet. Margrethe demonstrerer, hvordan hun blander pigmenter med kasein til en tempera, som skal males op på en af byggeklodserne i hendes og Rasmus’ farveindeks.
Den vandbaserede gouachefarve er, i modsætning til akvarel, en heldækkende kunstnerfarve. Den består af pigmenter opløst i vand og et bindemiddel.
Gouache er mat og tørrer hurtigt, og ligesom med akvarel kan tør farve opløses igen med vand.
For at fremstille kasein-tempera blandes bindemidlet (kasein), som er udskilt af et mælkeprodukt (man kan også købe det i pulverform) med olie, for eksempel linolie og farvepigment. Tempera tørrer og hærder langsomt, men er til gengæld meget robust.
Hun viser mig sin samling af omhyggeligt registrerede farver, både i en mappe og på en stor planche på væggen over trykbordet. De er, ligesom hendes farvedagbøger og indsamlede effekter – det kunne være sten – hendes udgangspunkt. Hun kalder det ‘mapping’; der går en colour mapping forud for ethvert projekt.
Du går uden om de eksisterende farvesystemer i din søgen?
“Man kan sammenligne de eksisterende systemer med tonerne fra et keyboard. Farver, man leder frem ved at male dem op, er langt mere poetiske – som tonerne fra et klaver, der kan stemmes og har resonans.
Det er vigtigt at skelne, hvornår man skal spille på det ene og hvornår på det andet instrument.”
“De eksisterende farvesystemer, som for eksempel NCS, er nyttige værktøjer, hvis man sidenhen er nødt til at oversætte de farver, man har malet op, til et system, som en produktionsvirksomhed kan læse.
Hvis jeg skal finde den her lilla i NCS-systemet, er det lettere, hvis jeg har noget at pege med.”
NCS – Natural Colour System. NCS – Natural Colour System® er et internationalt farvesystem udviklet af det svenske Scandinavian Colour Institute.
NCS-farver er defineret ud fra farverne rød (R = red), blå (B = blue), grøn (G = green) og gul (Y = yellow) samt sort (S = black) og hvid (W = white).
Systemet giver mulighed for nøjagtig tværindustriel farvekommunikation mellem designere og producenter, forhandlere og kunder.
Det er blevet tid til frokost
Vi henter smørrebrød hos naboen, og Margrethe priser i høje toner følelsen at høre til i lokalmiljøet.
“Jeg kan interviewe mig selv, mens du spiser”, siger hun og skubber fadet i min retning.
“Det er en misforståelse, at farvesans er medfødt i modsætning til alt andet, som kan læres.
Men man kan naturligvis have en medfødt farvemusikalitet.”
“Det er efterhånden gået op for mig, at det ikke kun er farven i sig selv, der interesserer mig, men også lysreflektionen – altså det, som opstår, når lyset møder overfladen.
Når man samtidig ved, hvor meget lyset påvirker os, og at uden lys dør vi, så handler mit arbejde med farver om hele tiden at finde de smukke lysbølger.
Her spiller overfladematerialet naturligvis ind, men dygtige håndværkere kan altid skubbe materialet i den bedst mulige retning.
Mit samarbejde med Montana og deres lakudvikler, som i en lang og grundig proces, hvor jeg hele vejen igennem var involveret, er et godt eksempel. Det lykkedes hende at omsætte mit gouachefarve-oplæg til en stabil industriel lak, uden at den mistede poesien.”
Hun fortsætter:
“Min opgave er at løfte mig et lag op – der, hvor farve relaterer til mennesker og gør en positiv forskel i menneskers hverdag.
Man kan tale om farven som en fjerde dimension. Hvis man skal forstå, hvordan farver påvirker en given form, kan man illustrere ved hjælp af kuber i samme format, med farverne påført på samme måde og i henholdsvis dyb mørkeblå, cinnober-orange og lys gul.
Ser man dem i rumlig sammenhæng, vil man opleve dem forskelligt og måske også foretrække den ene kube frem for de to andre. Farven er blevet den emotionelle del af strukturen, den fjerde dimension.”
“Min tilgang er aldrig at komme med et facit, men at bringe refleksionen ind i diskussionen, og jeg er, ligesom alle andre, der arbejder med farver, interesseret i, hvad der sker, når farverne bliver modtaget.
Jeg er optaget af ikke kun at tale om farver som noget subjektivt, men snarere tilnærmelsesvis at finde en dybere forståelse af, hvordan farver virker, altså en slags objektiv forståelse af farvens funktion. Selvom det ikke helt er muligt, ligger der noget interessant i forsøget på at finde de elementer af farveperceptionen, som vi har tilfælles.”
Margrethe rejser sig og kommer tilbage med en pakke, “Colour Effect Cards, dem får du med hjem. Kortene er en del af det materiale, som skal bringes i spil i Khrōmateket. De bygger på en metode, jeg har arbejdet med i mere end 10 år på mine workshops, som blandt andet har været afholdt i regi af Arkitektforeningen.”
Margrethe er ud af en familie af lærere, højskolefolk og præster. “Det forklarer måske, hvorfor jeg brænder for formidling”, siger hun med et smil og tilføjer, “jeg trives ganske godt på uranusposten.”
Det nye er altså ikke at formidle, men at det kommer til at foregå i eget hus, at Rasmus involverer sig, og at Margrethe dedikerer en større andel af sin tid til at dele ud af sin viden og erfaring med farven som funktion og farven i forhold til form, frem for at forsøge at overkomme at farvesætte hele verden selv – blandt andet med det formå at få mere tid til at være kunstner.
“Der findes så mange arkitekter og designere, som gerne vil arbejde med farvesætning, mange af dem har både teoretisk viden og en god fornemmelse for farver og deres virkning, men det er mit indtryk, at de savner et sprog for deres viden. De føler sig derfor rådvilde, når de skal tale med deres kunder”, siger Margrethe. “Usikkerheden i forhold til farver kommer blandt andet af manglende undervisning i farveteori i praksis på de forskellige uddannelser. I en presset hverdag med deadlines og forventninger er det vigtigt at have nogle metoder og værktøjer til at håndtere farvesætningsprocessen og til at formidle de valg, man tager.
Usikkerheden handler også om frygten for kontroltab. Når man farvesætter, risikerer man noget, man bekender kulør.
Skal man farvesætte, er første skridt at acceptere tab af kontrol, til gengæld har man, hvis man tør være nysgerrig og tør vove, muligheden for at lykkes på et helt andet niveau.
Min erfaring er, at man ved at benytte min metode i en arbejdsgruppe kan lande med en høj grad af enighed om både farvens emotionelle og sensoriske virkning. Altså et resultat, en farvesætning, som ikke er båret af en subjektiv smag, men af en form for objektivitet.”
Margrethe Odgaards Colour Effect Cards består af instruktion i brugen af kortene på tre forskellige professionelle niveauer, og af 35 varmt beige Emotion-kort, som kan bidrage til at reflektere og analysere den emotionelle virkning, en given farve eller farvekombination har. Emotion-kortene er påtrykt udsagn som:
‘I feel lighthearted’, ‘I feel relaxed’ (afslappet), ‘I feel weightless’ (vægtløs), ‘I feel melancholic’ (melankolsk), ‘I feel safe’ (i sikkerhed), ‘I feel motivated’ (motiveret).
Desuden 35 grå Action-kort, som handler om farvens sensoriske effekt. De er påtrykt betegnelser som:
‘Activating (igangsættende) colours’, ‘Empowering (styrkende) colours’, ‘Captivating (medrivende) colours’ og ‘Enveloping (omfavnende) colours’.
På vej ud ad døren spørger jeg: Et er, hvad lokalet har gjort for jeres virksomhed, noget andet er, hvad flytningen til Helsingør har betydet personligt?
“Det er en ting, jeg har tænkt over”, svarer Margrethe, “jeg bliver altid spurgt, hvad der inspirerer mig, og det er nu gået op for mig, at inspiration er noget, man er optaget af, mens man leder efter sin stemme, måske mens man er ung. Der er mere ro og fokus i provinsen og ikke så mange indtryk.
At flytte ud af byen har givet den indre stemme meget mere plads, og min egen kilde af inspiration har vokset sig større og tydeligere, mens jeg har boet her.”
Og er der noget, I savner?
“Det skulle da lige være god takeaway. Til gengæld er jeg blevet en habil surdejsbager og glad for havearbejde.”
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