Raw Color expands its colour-focused practice into 3D “props”

Colour theory is an essential component of the visual arts. The practice involves the process of mixing colours to create a complementary palette of colours. There is also an element of psychology within colour theory, as certain colours evoke particular emotions. Raw Color is an Eindhoven-based studio working between the disciplines of graphic design and photography. Its sophisticated studio output notably pays attention to the delicacy of colour. Through conducting experimental research, Raw Color has recently expanded its practice to make 3D objects as seen in the project, Props & Prints.

Founded by Daniera ter Haar and Christoph Brach, the creative pair have crafted a studio that inventively expresses their “curiosity and interest in discovering new things,” often incorporating performative elements. Not only does this method attract the attention of viewers, but it also presents other ways of experimenting with colour. For instance, for the installation Chromatology, Raw Colour mixes colours through the simple interaction of a machine. Paper shredders are programmed to cut coloured paper, but only when a passer-by triggers the motion sensors. The project examines “the perception of colour mixing” and demonstrates “the type of work that is of particular interest to the studio”.

Props & Prints is the first “colour study in 3D” that Daniera and Christoph have produced. Speaking to It’s Nice That, Daniera explains that “as these are the first prototypes, we like to call them ‘props’ as they are not just vases, but also a product of colour studies”. The objects differ from a vase as a vase “feels too framed in its function to do what the user expects of it”.

“The collection of props come in the form of five different objects titled: array, hue, grid, pile and triad”, says Daniera, “while each form has their own materialisation and graphical feeling.” Depending on the arrangement of the props, their appearance begins to change through variations of “stacking, turning, nesting and composing”. As a result, the objects take on different qualities of the colour spectrum, producing varying blends, shades and densities of colour. The project is so named because of the dialogue between 2D and 3D development. After drawing up 2D sketches that deal with “colour, proportion and structure”, the design duo then translate these sketches into material with a tactility.

“We always describe the studio as a triangle shape. Each corner is labelled with the disciplines of graphic design, photography and material design, and in the middle is colour”, the founding designer explains. However over the last year, the growing demand for 3D services like exhibition and product design, the studio is now considering changing the triangle shape into a square.