Here’s a roundup of the most colorful art, products, websites and such that I’ve come across in the last week.

Products

Love Colour - Love Tights

lovecolour-lovetights.com

This UK shop has colorful selection of legwear, and their nice product finder allows you to filter their products by color, style and pattern.

Countact Lens Cases

link

With the addition of simple electronics these colorful contact cases take on new functionality; informing you when it's time to replace your contacts.

Via designboom

Interior

'His Theory? Color Chaos'

nytimes article : slide show

Barely an inch of Richard Schultz and Anado McLauchlin's home near San Miguel de Allende, in Mexico, is without color and decoration.

When thinking of the color green we always tend to think of money, calmness and nature. For the most part, green is a pretty positive color. Who doesn't love having money, the idea and sense of being at ease and the beautiful greenery of nature?

The color green is also the most noticed color out of any other in the color spectrum. The variations of this color are amazing; starting from a soft pale seafoam green all the way on up to the darkest of greens, hunter green. So... basically there  pretty much is a shade of green that will make us all happy. What is your favorite shade of green?
Click on the image for the link:

Red is a very powerful color, it is bold, warm and can be quiet cozy as well. It is associated with anger, which is a bit negative, but on a more positive note it is also partnered with confidence, sexiness and love. So, keeping in mind the that red does in fact have a softer side, it would be ideal to add touches of red decor into your home that will give your space a little pick me up that it so greatly deserves!

Kramfors Sofa

Hotline Dining Table

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an Austrian painter, architect and sculptor. Born in Vienna, he became one of the best-known contemporary Austrian artists, although controversial, by the end of the 20th century.

Hundertwasser's original and unruly artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, and design of facades, postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas). The common themes in his work utilized bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines. He remains sui generis, although his architectural work is comparable to Antoni Gaudí in its biomorphic forms and use of tile. He was inspired by the works of Egon Schiele from an early date, and his style was often compared to that of Gustav Klimt. He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines "the devil's tools". He called his theory of art "transautomatism", based on Surrealist automatism, but focusing on the experience of the viewer, rather than the artist.

Although Hundertwasser first achieved notoriety for his boldly-colored paintings, he is more widely renowned today for his revolutionary architectural designs, which incorporate natural features of the landscape, and use of irregular forms in his building design. Hundertwasserhaus, a low-income apartment block in Vienna, features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. He took no payment for the design of Hundertwasserhaus, declaring that it was worth it, to "prevent something ugly from going up in its place".

He felt that standard architecture could not be called art, and declared that the design of any building should be influenced by the aesthetics of its eventual tenants. Hundertwasser was also known for his performance art, in which he would, for instance, appear in public in the nude promoting an ecologically friendly flush-less toilet.

Waldspirale Residential Complex

Photo by Joachim S. Müller

Waldspirale (wooded spiral in english) which is colorfully painted with earth tones, is located in Darmstadt, Germany and was built in the 90's. It features 105 units, a green roof, an inner courtyard and playground, small artificial lake, 1000 unique windows and unique handles on every door.

Photo byJoachim S. Müller

Photo by hans s

The feel of a city is greatly impacted by its architecture and layout, and most neighborhoods in any given city will tend to be similar, including the color palettes. However, sometimes you can get caught off-guard if you come across an unusually shaped or colored building, and it can completely change the visual dynamic of the city. Here are a few surprising color palettes found in cities across the world that would definitely grab anyone's attention.

Photo by Thomas Hawk

This set of condos in Emeryville, California is already laid out as a perfect color palette.

Photo by Georgios Karamanis

Adding some fun colors to the city in Uppsala, Sweden.

This years New York Design Week has come and gone, but those designs that made a big enough impression on the public will hopefully be around, and in production, for everyone, who can afford them, to enjoy. Here we are taking a look at some of the more colorful designs from this years event.

'nickel couch'

With its sleek silver design, Johnny swing's 'nickel couch' uses 7,000 nickels welded together with 35,000 welds. Johnny is an artist based in Vermont who specializes in the repurposing of materials.

'dek' lights

This simple spot lighting solution from mmckenna only comes in green, but the 'designer emulation kits (dek)' lighting series is based on famous lighting designs.

'tush-in' extension cord

Designer Arihiro Miayke has created a colorful and useful extension chord hub. With multiple outlets contained within a single brightly colored felt bin, it offers a place to keep the tangled mess hidden inside.

Over the years we've all come across color changing products that may have been amazing or disappointing - especially disappointing if you tried to wash you hypercolor t-shirt using hot water only to find out that you have now permanently changed it to the lighter color, but since those trying days of the 80's and 90's, color changing products have continued to develop.

Now, many researchers have applied some of the science behind color changing for applications in public safety, like when water is hot, or streets are cold and covered in ice, and they have also developed some technologies that would allow us to change the color of our cars and clothing with the push of a button. Here is a look at some of the color changing products currently available or in development.

Car Paint

Photo from gizmodo

With a switch of a button your car could change color. Scientist have developed a material that uses an electrical charge to create different colors. The Coating has the ability to reproduce the full spectrum of colors, and it only takes about a second to change from one color to another.

The process starts out with a standard galvanized piece of automotive sheet metal steel. A special polymer is applied to the steel with superparamagnetic iron oxide particles embedded within it. The nanoscale crystalline particles of magnetite (iron oxide) are controlled using a low grade magnetic field which is used to effect the spacing of the colloidal crystals and thereby controlling their ability to reflect light and change color.

Note: Nissan is not actually releasing this product.

Faucets

A number of faucets have been designed to change from blue to red as the temperature of the water increases. They simply use some sort of temperature sensor and a LED light, but can be very helpful in warning of a potential burn situation.

Wall Paint

Eclipse wall paint from Alsacorp will get lighter when heat of some kind is applied. It is also available with extra effects called CrystalFX, SpectraFX or Funky Munkey.

Candles

At frst these candles seemed like they had been touched with 'the magic' until I read a little more and discovered that there is a LED light in the bottom, but the fact that it turns on when you light the wick, using an optical sensor, is impressive enough to include in the lineup.

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!

While it takes a brave soul to paint one's living room a vibrant shade of persimmon or yellow, the kitchen is often a room in which one feels more courageous when it comes to decorating vibrantly. It is truly the best room for it, especially if one subscribes to the beliefs about the effects of colors as used in the home (although if everyone subscribed to that, we would never see the gorgeous red rooms that leave us breathless on the pages of design magazines!)

As the kitchen is essentially a creative place, use of colorful decor can only intensify the mood and give the room a vibe of powerful positivity. There are several ways to add color to your own kitchen, whether you choose to take the route of permanent change with paint or simply using colorful accessories for accent, it's all up to you!

Via Tsuga Studios

Adding Accessories

Painting your kitchen a strong color is a definite commitment. No matter how long you spend staring at your color swatches and envisioning the new walls, it never quite matches up to the final product. For the decorator uneasy with a complete overhaul, colorful accents in a plain white or neutral kitchen go a long way when it comes to making the room "pop." Best of all, if you tire of the look they can be removed, or if you want to try a different color all you have to do is change your accessories and you have an instant new look. Here are a few fun pieces that can make immediate impact:

Via Pottery Barn

Via Williams-Sonoma

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.