If you’re looking for a way to customize and set your iPhone apart with a little personal taste and style, you may not need to look any further than GelaSkins. Featuring some 60 artists, GelaSkins features impressive work by some amazing contemporary artists, and fills in the ranks with classic work by Van Gogh, Monet, Gustav Klimt and Kurt Vonnegut.

While I am unaware of what kind of compensation each artist receives in exchange for the rights to their work, I do like the fact that they are supporting new artists, and GelaSkins says they are always on the lookout for new talent to feature, which in addition to wallpapers and skins, includes coverage on their design + culture blog.

The new skin designs and free matching wallpapers that many companies have been coming out with lately are a pretty big jump in the right direction from older styles of skins that were mostly just awkward and annoying, and only came in a limited number of colors.

The skins are available online and in selected stores nationwide. You can also create your own skins and put whatever questionable illustration, painting, or photograph that you might have, on your iPhone for all your friends to see.

Color Inspiration from GelaSkins

Here are four works that caught my eye when I was browsing through the lineup of artist.


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I’d love to share some of my work with you today. I’m about to debut my patterns at the New York Surtex (surface pattern/textile) show on May 18-20. It would be wonderful to see my patterns turn into practical applications. That’s how I want to share my art. Perhaps they could be made into wallpaper, wall decals, bedding, you name it. It should be an interesting show (I’m a little nervous). If you’re coming please stop by my booth to say hello (booth 1010). Before I show you some stunning ways to add color to your home without the arduous task of taping and painting your walls, here are some of my own patterns for you to see. For more of my work please visit my site.

Samantha Hahn Patterns

Pneumatic Knockout:

Fireflies:

Botany 101:

And now for some great companies that sell beautiful wallpaper, and decals ready for you to brighten your decor without paint!


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For the last 100 years or so kids have been exploring and creating worlds of color with Crayons. For a lot of us, our life long love affairs with color began with these wax sticks and a blank sheet of paper. According to a Yale University study, the scent of Crayola crayons is among the 20 most recognizable to American adults. Coffee and peanut butter are 1 and 2. Here we go down crayon color memory lane with all 120 color names and hex codes, fun facts and photos.

Photo by Sir Fish

Crayola crayons currently come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. Although Crayola crayons come in 120 different colors, the labels are only made in 18, which cover the full color spectrum. Nearly 3 billion crayons are made each year, an average of 12 million daily. That’s enough to circle the globe 6 times with color!

120 Crayon Names and Color Codes

Aaron at ColorSchemer.com created a fun list of all 120 Crayon Colors with their hex codes and RGB values. “All of these colors are rough approximations from Crayola’s current list of 120 Crayon Colors. -CS”


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Pantone was founded in 1962 as a small business that manufactured color cards for cosmetics companies. Since their humble beginning, Pantone has become a mainstay for color in the design world. The Pantone Matching System allows colors to be “matched” when they reach the production stages. They also assert that their lists of color numbers and pigment values are the intellectual property of Pantone and free use of the list is not allowed, which is controversial and could be said to cause problems, especially for open source uses. Controversy aside, the world leader in color hasn’t stopped with just their matching system and has started to move into taking over the ‘universe’ of color as well with the launch of Pantone Universe.

Pantone Universe, Pantone’s consumer product extension, “comes in color to match your personal taste and express your inner emotions.” And since here at COLOURlovers we like our things to be, well, colorful, and since the Pantone Universe site is not that user friendly, we have put together a guide to some of their products.

This guide was inspired by the guide posted over at the wonderful blog, ‘If it’s hip, It’s Here.’

Pantone, and their off shoot of products has been a frequent subject here at COLOURlovers and we have previously covered some of the phones, bags, coffee mugs and art that make up the Pantone Universe, plus a fun post about Pantone Colors Found in Real Life.

Office

Stationary

Notebooks, file folders and business card holders available here.

USB Drives

“Express your personality and store your creations in style. These durable, aluminum design thumb drives allow you to store your digital photos, music files, business documents, and more on an ultra-small Hi-speed USB flash drive. Available in 14 PANTONE Colors.” Shop USB Drives.

Coming Soon

Coming soon from Pantone will be a line of basic office supplies like twin markers, colored pencils, staplers, and scissors.


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I can’t imagine living with a beige decor. I love color and feel that my home should reflect that love. At the same time I don’t want a
rainbow home with garish flashy colors and prints all over the place. I think the key is to have vibrant colors dispersed amongst more modest ones.

We just moved into a new place and chose a dusty rose for the bedroom. I love it because my bedspread has a bright green butterfly pattern on a white background. Our livingroom/diningroom is an atmospheric blue that contrasts the warm wood tones of the floor and table. A brightly colored vase or cushions on the couch can accent any room. I go for the colors I love without trying too hard to match everything, and at the same time without going mad with bold colors everywhere.

Here is some stunning furniture that would brighten up any room!

Esque Slump Vases via Velocity

Each glass esque creation is hand-blown and will vary slightly from piece to piece. Each piece is a signed, unique, original, functional work of art. Esque glass is now all made with recycled glass stock; processed in an electric furnace that’s powered by wind energy. Another Velocity Green Product! Available in fuschia, orange, or extra light blue.

Ferm Living wallpaper

WallSmart is a new generation of non-woven wallpaper that is designed for easier and more flexible hanging by applying the paste directly to the wall. It is washable and has very good light resistance. It is designed in Denmark and manufactured in Sweden.

Sprout ornate folding chair

So it’s just a folding chair eh? But not like this, not this darn cute. Powdercoated Steel makes this chair fairly weather resistent, that said we suggest putting it away during wet periods, if you were to use it outdoors. Sit, done sitting, and want it out of the way, fold it up…

Strut dining table via Design Public


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Pearls come in more colors than one can count. Part of the allure of owning pearls is that each one is unique. Like people, pearls are never clones (not yet at least) and their color is one of their most striking qualities. Because of the natural material, each pearl must be expertly matched underneath fluorescent lights in order to find a pair.

Sometimes a pearl’s color changes when you spin the pearl. One side of the pearl may be copper and the other green. These pearls are generally thought to be lower in value and are hard to come across unless you are looking through a substantial lot of loose pearls.

Pearl Fun Facts

Pearl is the birthstone for the month of June and it is generally accepted as the wedding anniversary gemstone for the 3rd and 30th years or marriage. The pearl has been a symbol of sacred power and the goddess of love for hundreds of years. In the ancient Mediterranean world, shells and pearls were often symbols for the great goddesses. As the pearl is born from the oyster so was Aphrodite born from a marine conch.

Tahitian Pearls

“Rainbow” Iridescence

The best example of the possibility in pearl color is captured in the baroque shape. Baroque implies that the pearls are not completely round and are generally either drop shaped or circled. Because of the more freeform shape, these pearls capture rainbows of color. The colors dance and change according to the lighting. One of the traditional metaphors to describe such iridescence, (called “orient”), is to think of gasoline on pavement. What makes baroque shaped pearls even more colorful is that their body color is not always one color. Below is a photo of some loose Tahitian pearls. You can see from the following examples the multitude of colors.
- Tahitian Pearls by PearlParadise

Red

Though there are no bright red pearls, there is a shade of Tahitian pearl called “Cherry,” which is truly vamp. These pearls have a ruby tinge to their darker body color. These pearls can be as red as a dark sienna if the body color is also red, or the red can be lighter with a silver body color. Sometimes green is the dominant body color of the pearl and the red is an overtone. These pearls look red at the center with an outline of green beneath. They are rare and hard to find on for sale.


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The spring 2008 color trends will include some of the brightest and boldest colors we have seen from the fashion world in a while. With New York Magazine titling their spring fashion issue, ‘The Technicolor Season’ and Pantone calling colors like Rococco Red and Freesia for the spring color forecast, recently reported here on COLOURlovers, this spring is set to be full of confident cheery colors.

If you are set on keeping up with the latest color trends, then you may need not to look any further than We Love Colors. This hip online retailer carries tights in an astounding 45 colors.

Color: Royal

Their tights also come in multiple patterns like diamonds, checkers, vertical jagged striped, and for the really adventurous, splash color.

There main line for women includes other things like dance wear and minidresses, but their products extend to socks, gloves, and ties, in addition to tights, for both children and men.

Color: Sky Blue

To help you pick out your favorite color, whether it is neon pink, rust, or rubine, We Love Colors provides a guide to aide in sorting through their incredible selection of colors.

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Designer Yaroslav Rassadin is re-imagining a 120 year old traditional handicraft from Russia, the matryoshka.

The Matryoshka, or Russian nesting dolls, date back to 1890. Traditionally hand painted with ornate detailing and a dynamic range of colors, Rassadin’s take on the classic Russian nesting dolls was inspired by a combination of the “Pantone matching system and UFO minimalistic styling.” His work has been described as “emotional, minimalistic and technological.”

History Of the Matryoshka

Matryoshkas are a relatively new Russian handicraft; the first one dates from 1890, and is said to have been inspired by souvenir dolls from Japan. However, the concept of nested objects was familiar in Russia, having been applied to carved wooden apples and Easter eggs; the first Fabergé egg, in 1885, had a nesting of egg, yolk, hen, and crown.

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It has been said that eyes are the window into the soul. If that is true, then eye colors are the soul’s curtains, a decorative adornment that frames your view of the main event. Human eye color is determined by a number of factors, including the pigment of melanin within the iris, as well as the thickness of iris cell layers, which causes light to be absorbed in different ways. These factors are often determined genetically, as certain eye colors can either be dominant or recessive.

Brown Eyes

Brown eyes are a dominant trait extremely prevalent in people from continents like Africa and Asia.

If you’ll recall from 10th grade biology, the easiest way to represent how dominant and recessive traits manifest themselves is using a Punnett Square. In reality, eye colors are derived from a variety of factors, including how much yellow and black pigment certain genes are coded to produce.

Blue Eyes

A recessive trait, blue eyes are often thought of as a sought-after characteristic. One study even shows that blue eyed men seek out blue-eyed women from an evolutionary standpoint in order to verify paternity.

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Color has always been an important component of fashion whether it be a heather grey or crimson red. Each designer makes color choices that will be indicative of their aesthetic, season, and era. Lately, I’ve been seeing beautiful and rich color choices in the fashion and accessory world. It seems that everyone is becoming obsessed with Pantone gradations. Check out some of my favorite examples of some stunningly colorful products as well as Pantone’s Spring color predictions.

Softbank Cell Phones

SoftBank Cell Phones in glossy bright colors via Geeksugar

Kate Spade



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