Clariant ColorWorks® Helps Chairs Win Design Awards
- Brado sought assistance from Clariant color specialists
- Italian company wanted color ideas for new furniture lines
- Two new chairs have won Good Design awards
Brado, Treviso, Italy, wanted to add the new plastic chairs to its Contract line of seating targeted at hotels, restaurants, schools and other institutions. The company worked with top architectural and furniture designers who created the shape of the chairs, but color choices would be left to Brado. In the past, Brado had simply asked their customers what colors they wanted and usually that led them to the same standard colors. This time they wanted to do something different and they called on Clariant ColorWorks for help.
Located near Milan, ColorWorks Europe is one of a network of co-creation centers located strategically around the world. It delivers a unique combination of inspiration, color science and plastics processing technology to assist designers and brand owners in bringing color into the early stages of plastic product development.
Beginning in late 2014, the ColorWorks team worked closely with key marketing staff from Brado to develop a custom color solution directly related to how Brado wanted their new products to be viewed by customers. Two of the new chair lines are called Mork and Mindy, after the characters in a 1970s American TV comedy about a quirky alien (played by the late Robin Williams) and the earthling girl who makes him welcome in her home. To reflect the comfortable contoured shape of the chairs, colors are drawn from a palette called Daydreaming, with dusty pastel hues that are easy on the eye, calming and even warming.
The Mork chair and another line named Loola have both received a Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. The Good Design Awards is the world's oldest and most important industrial design program organized annually by the Museum in cooperation with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies in Dublin.
The Loola chairs and two other models named Frill and No-Frill are available in colors from a palette called Acid Pop. These bright, fresh acid colors, which range from lemon yellow through various shades of blue and green, to a dark purple and a deep grey. These shades are inspired by a curious, creative younger generation, that is influenced by pop culture and are trying to display their personalities even in the coloring of their homes and offices. These colors would also be popular in Latin countries, which represent a big market for Brado.
"This project is a perfect example of what ColorWorks was created to do," says Judith van Vliet, a ColorWorks Designer who worked closely with Brado. "Here is a company that is very knowledgeable about their market. They hire the very best designers to create products that stand out from their competition. And yet, when it comes to color, they were quite unsophisticated. They needed help and they needed it fast. We are very excited about the fact that ColorWorks could provide a venue where Brado could exercise their creativity with the guidance and technical support of specialists who can speak the language of design and open up for them a wide world of color."
