Between Color and Matter

A collaboration between the Edmond de Rothschild Center and the Design Museum Holon.

The moment in which an object acquires a layer of color is similar, in many ways, to the moment in which we humans get dressed each morning, adding to ourselves layers of belonging. Yet while we can put on or take off as many colors and identities as we please, objects must assume the colors chosen for them by designers. Indeed, the choice of colors is an essential aspect of an object’s birth process.

Just as a uniform is associated with a specific organization, or an anthem is identified with a particular affiliation, the assignation of a given color marks an object as belonging to a specific place and time. The geographical environment may
dictate the materials available to produce pigments; over time, specific colors may attest to identification with a certain class, nation, mood or idea. Colors such as gold or silver may indicate whether an object is cheap or expensive, whereas red or yellow may indicate use in case of an emergency. The colors of other objects may be chosen to assimilate into the domestic sphere or to stand out as easily identifiable. The location of a specific color may even indicate how to hold an object.

Assembled in the Dr. Shulamit Katzman Gallery (Lower Gallery) are works by designers from different disciplines, who have been invited to celebrate the singular manner in which various objects wear their colors. The point of departure for the design process and the definition of the object’s basic identity was
13 techniques for assigning colors, ranging from mechanized industrial techniques such as spray painting, to painstaking manual techniques such as tattooing and glassblowing. In some cases, the color is added as an external envelope; in other cases, it penetrates the object, injuring or transforming it from within. In yet other instances, the color, object, and material structure are one.