On a recent trip to New York City, my husband and I spent a few hours at The Color Factory, a pop-up exhibit that explores color, only times a thousand.
The Color Factory comprises a series of rooms, each of which features a different way for visitors to interact with color. It’s mostly hands-on, which is weird since color is a visual thing, but the exhibit asks visitors to consider color in unexpected ways: in relation to the taste of food and drinks, for example, as well as psychological theory, music, even in statistical representations of New York city subway riders. The tour ends in a giant pit filled with iridescent balls (like a McDonald’s playland) and ice cream treats in a matching hue.
It was really fun for two slightly older-than-hipster age adults who couldn’t figure out how to work all the Instagram photo booths.
What does this story have to do with the holidays? While we can’t give you ice cream (though I so wish we could) when I saw an article recently on The Color Factory, it got me thinking about color and the holidays. What would a holiday color palette look like? And where would those colors be if we took the time to look around and really notice them?
Red, like party lipstick and roses in a centerpiece. Green, during a walk through the woods. The yellow flame from a candle and the stars in the sky above. Blue letters on a dreidel, maybe a shiny ribbon on a package. Black keys on the piano when someone plays Silent Night. White sugar dusted on a gingerbread rooftop, or simply, the snow falling outside.
Colors all around, a palette made for December.