Q&A with Color Pioneer & Consultant, James Martin

Q&A with Color Pioneer & Consultant, James Martin

What/who inspired you to work in the field of color?
My degree was in graphic design and I remember when I was taking a photography class my professor was telling me that I was a real colorist after seeing my color photos. Of course, this was exactly the wrong thing I wanted to hear at the time since I was really into being an "arty" black and white photographer. I got into this when I was renovating Victorian Houses and looking to get back to art. I started doing it on the side and gradually built up the business.

Your website bio mentions the “colorist movement.” What exactly is that?
The Colorist movement really began with the Victorian "Painted Lady," a term coined by Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, who authored a number of books celebrating these homes. The movement spread by colorists from this genre branching out and doing lots of other types of buildings. It has really influenced architects who, enslaved by the Bauhaus ethic, rarely used color at all. Now you see them using it a lot even though rarely realizing the architectural potential color allows.

Regarding color in architecture, what’s the trend?
Color itself- all colors. To reference the above question, you see a lot of mid-century revival building which is updating the mid-century modern styles of the fifties and early sixties. Also there is a lot of color blocking which is using various colors and materials to break up the facade of a building. Echoing that period of time, colors are cleaner and less muddy.

What’s yesterday’s trend?
Colors from the Victorian and Arts and Crafts revivals. Muddy, Khaki influenced colors.

What color is your kitchen? 
Kind of greened yellow ochre. I really like colors that you can't fix on. You can't say, Oh, that's green!" I like colors that look different in different lights and on different days so that you would think instead of it being "green" you would not be sure if it was Khaki, or gray or yellow green. It just works and look terrific and makes your paintings look better as well as whatever else is in the room.

What is your greatest achievement in the field of color?
A few years ago just for a lark, I googled color consultants. I didn't even show up on the first page! I thought, "Wait a minute, what's up with this? I invented this gig!" I didn't know how google was structured but the point is that I really feel I helped create this blossoming of color consulting becoming a recognized profession in my small way.

What paint companies do you prefer?
I use all of them. I have my preferences but I don't want to broadcast them and seem to put other companies down. Really all paint pretty much does what it's supposed to do which is protect the substrate. The real differences are purely aesthetic.  

What are some simple tips for homeowners considering fresh paint—inside and outside? 
Number one is use warm colors- nobody likes a cold home. The key to making a home or room really work is the balance of trim and wall or body color.  High contrast between these keeps the room or home from feeling whole. A nice blend of the two colors makes all the difference. Also use a satin finish outside. The colors are richer, shed dirt more readily, and have a tougher finish than flat.

What are your sentiments on white? White walls?  
I ask my clients to take The Color People Pledge: "I will never use white again." White, especially your standard old white is inhospitable, lifeless and soul deadening. What's a shame is that architects who are rarely given any color training keep recreating this white business generation after generation. Mostly because color cannot be controlled and they want something that can be specified and come out exactly as they expect. Color is the most relative thing there is. It changes with finish, light, scale, what is next to it and just about everything else. That is the joy of color and what makes it so human.

What are the least obvious, yet most important places to consider in/on a home for color enhancements?
The more color you have, the more color you can use. If you have a room of very closely colored items it is extremely likely that most of what you add to it will not work. If a woman buys a khaki skirt and then tries to find a khaki jacket that goes with it she finds there are hundreds of shades of khaki and unless you get the right one it looks like you couldn't tell the difference. When you have colored walls and a colored couch you can have really different colors for the other objects in the room. Color really sets you free. And it makes your life much more enjoyable and satisfying as well.

COLOR WORDS TO LIVE BY: MAKING THE RIGHT STATEMENT

COLOR WORDS TO LIVE BY: MAKING THE RIGHT STATEMENT

A small house wants to make a small statement. A color consultant knows to avoid the temptation to make the house too busy. When a house has a lot of fretwork, often people want to paint every single little detail. The result makes those details look like they've been stuck on the house without any relationship to the rest of the building. When many elements vye for attention you lose the statement you want the house to make.

Infill: Part II

Infill: Part II

Watching this row house project start up, we were more than worried that it was going to be one more stacking design of rectangular blocks, defined by dark brick and color-blocked with spare stucco patches of charcoal, white and red—with perhaps some stained wood or corrugated metal thrown in. Being a turn-of-the-century neighborhood, there was a great deal of angst on the part of the neighbors.

But all our fears were unfounded. This is a brilliant example of sensitive infill housing. It doesn’t mimic historic buildings but does make liberal use of period detailing. It is clearly a new building and the interior is as fresh and spacious as any ‘modern’ home. The colors are also well chosen. We especially like the way the entry doors express that these row houses are brand new.

Urban Infill: Is it a problem?

Urban Infill: Is it a problem?

People are flocking back to the inner city. Infill housing, scrape-offs and total renovations are all the rage with developers wanting to cash in. Mid-Mod Revival is a popular style but unfortunately homebuyers with no sense of history of their new neighborhood—and lazy, copy-cat architects trying to make their "hip" statement—are destroying the visual fabric of older neighborhoods. That is where an expert architectural color consultant can help to select the colors that are right for that neighborhood.

“New modernism” homes are extremely livable and space-effective unlike many historic homes that surround them. We have no bones to pick with modern infill homes but there is absolutely no reason that they can’t use colors that allow them to blend with the streetscape. Today it seems like young architects can’t feel like their houses are cool unless they are bright white, black, charcoal and russet. Sadly it is as tedious as it is lacking in creativity. This example is a handsome home but simply changing the brash white to a tan would allow it to be a good neighbor. Good architecture will get noticed. It doesn’t have to scream, “Look at me!”

Retail Color Matters

Retail Color Matters

Caution Shopping Center Owners! You never want to get on the wrong end of a color trend. A local megastore chain painted its building mauve—right at the end of the mauve craze. Because the color trends changed, by the end of the first year of its re-opening, the store looked 10 years old. The point of paint in a mall-revival process is to make changes with color when you can’t—or don’t need to—undergo an architectural rehab. With the right paint you can turn your maintenance dollar into a marketing dollar. You can make a center look fresher, cleaner, more dynamic and dramatic—all with paint.

Color and curb appeal

Color and curb appeal

Everyone talks about curb appeal—so much so that builders tend not to take it seriously. But let’s look at the market. Costs of land and materials are so similar that your price per square foot is almost exactly the same as your competitors. You are both offering about the same number of rooms, similar room sizes and the same amenities. So all that you really have to offer to make your home stand apart is how it looks and more importantly how it feels.  The point is that emotion is perhaps more important than square footage. And the key to emotion is color.

What’s the new color trend?

What’s the new color trend?

The biggest trend in color is color itself. Today people are crazy for color. The Color Marketing Group, the international group that forecasts and tracks color trends, says “Color sells. And the right color sells better.” This is true today in every single product and market in the country. People don’t want the same old, same old. And a fresh look of color is much more desirable.