• Nothing comes out of thin air - an interview with Lola Güldenberg
• Lighting the Way Between the Visible and the Invisible - an interview with Roseline de Thélin
• Artcast conversations: Maarten Baas
• Artcast conversations: rAndom International
• The Contemporary Alchemist - an interview with Paul Cocksedge
• I have always loathed renderings and fought against them - an interview with Dieter Rams
• A Dream Within A Dream - an interview with Julien Breton, a.k.a. Kaalam
• About Nothing But Everything That Surrounds Us - an interview with Julien Vallée
• Design Ink. - an interview with Beat Karrer
• Contaminating by Example - an interview with Fernando and Humberto Campana
• Mr. Material speaks up - an interview with Chris Lefteri
• Get It, Got It ... And It's Good! - an interview with Christoph Niemann
• Design has to make us feel good - an interview with Afroditi Krassa
• Observing is the Best Way of Thinking - an interview with Alfredo Häberli
• A Little Shop Just Out Back and Thousands of Miles Away - an interview with Pacific Art Design
• Serve Surprising and Pleasing, but Don’t Overcook - an interview with Raw Edges
• Manifest Plainness, Embrace Simplicity, Design Terrific Logos - an interview with David Pache
• I’m just trying to “build an instant" - an interview with Mauricio Clavero
• Why Settle For Something When You Can Make It Shine? – an interview with hooping fan extraordinaire and design-award Winner Danielle McIntosh
• Brand Vision and Designing Corporate Uniqueness – an interview with Bruno Schmidt of MetaDesign
• What I am doing is new and exciting - an interview with Tom Rossau
• Meet enPieza! and Some of Their Friends – or How to Help Daily Objects Forget Their Initial Destiny for Fun and Profit
• The value of the material determines the value of the act of cleaning itself - an interview with Jurgen Bey of Studio Makkink & Bey
• The Road is Clear for Colors – an interview with Lieke Ypma
• I feel more alive in insecurity - an interview with Devakrishna Marco Giollo
• Try not to repeat what already exists - an interview with Tom Dixon
• A sense of balance between pixels and pencil - an interview with Ben Schlitter
• The Magic at Sun Rise - an interview with Shahar Peleg
• To create means to express your inner self - an interview with Alexandra Tsoukala
• Muses of a Midwestern Maker - an interview with Mike Perry
• We are perfectionists … - an interview with Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job
• Always start from scratch - an interview with Ditte Hammerstrøm
• Don't Read This, Go Design Something!" – An Interview with Daniel Pelavi
• Design is a consequence of the process, which in turn is a consequence of the material – an interview with Max Lamb
• Concrete: Material of the Future!
• Finding Beauty in Problem-Solving – An Interview with Illustrator Jean Tuttle
• Complaining is Silly - an interview with Stefan Sagmeister
• My starting point is the graphic reworking of surface - an interview with Lars Contzen
• Self-sufficiency, environmental protection and cultural promotion – All in a day’s work for Ute Hübler and Sonja Nitschmann of espírito brasilis
• Designs Unseen – An Interview with "Micronaut" Martin Oeggerli
• The Passagen Interviews – Katja Gehrke
• The Passagen Interviews – Doty Horn
• Taking Security from Effects – an interview with Dieter Hermann of Printcolor
• Designers, have your say! The XYMARA.com Passagen Interviews!
• Personal magic – the art of Alison Ann Martin
• Design Trends in Asia - Nature, Harmony and the Embrace of the New
• What color is a piece of string?
• Straight Lines, Hidden Value - an interview with Fabian Baumann of Formfjord
• I feel I gave a little something, a little beauty to the world - an interview with the artist Devakrishna Marco Giollo
• We believe it’s a new industrial revolution - an interview with Janne Kyttänen of Freedom of Creation
• How about good things? Or interesting things?
• Design also always has a function
• Wood is a Very Modern Material - an interview with Stefan Diez
• I don‘t care what color a car is, just as long as it is black.
• Every design process is inspired by something else, what the designer has seen, heard or felt.
• Aren‘t our color preferences always based on our childhood memories?
• There is a strong need for richness
• We live in an inflatable culture. It‘s hard to know which values are real.
• There is a corresponding emotion to each color
• We would love to live outside the city. But we stay and use countryside colors ...
• There are too many colors around. I only need black.
• Interview with Warren Neidich, Artist
• Interview with Simon Husslein, Product Designer
• Interview with Clarissa Tossin, Graphic Designer
• Interview with Uleshka Asher, PingMag Chief Editor/Artist

Colors that create value are trendy ...

An interview with David Alhadeff, gallery owner, New York City

By Oliver Spies

Today, people like to live in the lap of traditional forms and to use them as a decorative quotation of former lifestyles. Colors that create value are trendy ...

David, we were told that your gallery shows the most current New York City design. Now we are here and see deer antlers, Louis XIV armchairs, and furniture and design from all over the world showing formative elements from past eras. How do you explain this?

What you see here is simply what the designers produce and what my customers now want. This is the “spirit of the time“.

But why are there so many traditional elements and quotes from old articles in the current design“

Clearly people long for “genuine“ values. And “genuineness“ for them is what they have experienced as valuable in the past. However, what‘s new here is that these values are no longer a product of retro design. Now it‘s enough to quote these traditional values. This is done by using the shapes of well-known antiques, color schemes from certain eras, materials, etc. An article doesn‘t have to be really old anymore. To use the element as a quotation is sufficient.

Isn‘t the product often kitsch‘

Yes! But people aren‘t afraid of kitsch anymore. The elements of kitsch are used to create the values that they refer to, the values they quote. Surfaces are gilded and polished, obviously decorative elements are applied sumptuously.

How about you? Does this also apply to you?

Of course, but to be honest, after a certain time I have enough of a trend. For me, this style has reached its climax now. What follows will be completely different. This is always the way it is.

Source: Color Evolution Guide

This interview has been taken from the Color Evolution Guide, which is part of the Color Trend Vision project. It provides detailed background information for 31 selected colors based on their current and future trend position. With the help of photographs, taken around the world, the book guides you through the emotions, origin and affinity of the colors.