Is anyone still visiting plenty of colour?! I sure hope so! Sorry everyone for the ridiculous delay in posting. I received some very sweet emails asking if I was okay. Indeed I am. I recently returned from Turkey where I was working on the inspiring Istanbul 2020 Olympic bid. If you haven’t been to Turkey, go. What an extraordinary country bursting with stunning colour, brilliant architecture, delicious food and warm people. Every corner seemed to have a new colour palette and unique fusion of modern and historical design. Yep, I even saw blue mosaic tile used to fill potholes! Istanbul is a magical city that you all should visit ASAP. I had a marvelous time and one of these days, I hope to post a collection of colourful images from my jaunt. Above are two quick images of a place I found endlessly fascinating – The Spice Bazaar. Pile upon pile of textured colour and the heavenly wafting scent of mingling spices. What more could someone want? Oh Istanbul, you have a piece of my heart.

I think five days was my longest posting break in the past. Oops. I had big plans of posting regularly while I was away but work got a bit crazy. And I got distracted by Turkish colour. Hee. On a side note, Kate Spade selected my wee colour blog as a “site we love” while I was away and I am honoured to be featured by such a colour icon. Long story short – back to regular and frequent colour posting! – Chloé

(photos by chloé douglas)

Whoa, today my wee colour blog turns two years old. How did that happen so fast? To mark the occasion, I just had to make Pantone confetti using an outdated book sitting in my art supplies. Perhaps on Plenty of Colour’s third anniversary, there can be a global recycled Pantone guide confetti throw? Hmm…

Also, I want to say thank you to all of the people that pop by this blog, thoughtfully email and tweet me, and support the site in general. The very best aspect of having creating Plenty of Colour has been meeting so many wonderful people from all over the world. I always knew colour lovers were the best of humanity! I am tremendously thankful and grateful for all of the colour love and support you have tossed my way. Cheers to the year ahead and the new features and pops of colour it will bring. Thank you ALL! — Chloé

(pantone confetti and “2″ by chloé douglas for plenty of colour)

Wow, it is 2013? That sounds rather futuristic. Shouldn’t we be living like The Jetsons by now? Best wishes for a happy, healthy and creative 2013. May the new year be so wonderful that colourful confetti explodes all around you (literally or figuratively). I may take matters into my own hands and make a joyful wall like Beci Orpin….

(photograph of beci orpin’s confetti wall in find and keep, via wee birdy)

My love affair with Holi, the Indian Festival of Colour, continues to grow by the year. A joyful celebration that includes throwing vibrant powders and pigments? Yes please. I did a rather large post on the topic last year so take a look if you are after colourful eye candy today! I was also lucky enough to be asked to create a t-shirt design focused on Holi for Made in the Now, a Brisbane-based studio/shop that produces a design every 24 hours inspired by a top of mind news story of the day. With just a couple hours of time at your disposal, it is a challenging yet mucho fun project to work on! Long story short, my t-shirt design is only available today so if you are interested, take a look here. My thought was, as India celebrates Holi, the entire country is bursting with brilliantly colourful powder far into the midnight blue night…

(holi photographs via the big picture and tee design by chloé douglas)

I admit it, I am slightly Christmas bonkers. It’s hard not to be inspired and full of joy in a season bursting with colour. One of my very favourite parts of the holidays is advent calendars. They are just so full of design possibilities from the traditional windowed illustration calendars to the most contemporary parcel-a-day designs. Advent calendars make the lead-up to Christmas special and full of anticipation while also creating some fantastic design avenues to explore. I could post a hundred photos but these are a few that have caught my eye over the last few weeks. A paper forest, a watercolour spectrum, an office window showcase – advent calendars are beautiful in their traditional meaning and ability to make the holidays even more magical.

As we open the final advent calendar window/parcel, I want to wish you (each and every person who kindly reads plenty of colour!) a very happy holiday season and all the very best in 2012. I can’t believe that I started this blog exactly 11 months ago today. I am beyond grateful for the tremendous support I have received from all over the world. I started this blog because I saw a void in colour-focused design blogs and was hoping to just toss some hue-filled inspiration onto the Internet and maybe get a handful of visitors. I had no idea I would meet so many colour-loving, creative and supportive people. All of your emails, tweets and support in general has been amazing. Creating/running this blog has been a dream come true and I am so thankful for all of you who pop by for a bit of colour inspiration. Thank you. There are some changes on the horizon so expect bigger, better and more colourful things in 2012! – Chloé

(images via snug., fry dog design, inspiration overdose, snug., brigg, style cookie, anthology, griottes, a simple nest, happy mundane, house to home, the marion house book, creative review, cirkus, sheenalu, a few things from my life, country living, brigitte, ohdeedoh, french by design and the eclectic life)

Bottles, bags, crazy foil envelopes – there are a million types of packages and even more reasons to love their niche of design. Now more than ever, companies and designers are using minimal packaging so how do you get your brand across in an impactful and creative way? I wrote an article for Rena Tom’s site on that very topic so please take a look if you are interested. There are plenty of inspiring images if you are looking to brand your product or yourself!

(image via miss design and retail design blog)

As of this week, I am officially a member of Rena Tom’s blog contributor family and I am thrilled! Rena is a mastermind of retail strategy for creative businesses, entrepreneurs, designers and retailers. She also shares her considerable knowledge via speaking engagements and workshops as well as columns on design*sponge, poppytalk and in UPPERCASE magazine. On top of all that, she has managed to create her own blog jam-packed with vital and inspiring information for retail and creative businesses in general. I have been a frequent visitor for quite some time so I was honoured when Rena asked me to be a contributor on her site (along with a handful of intimidatingly talented individuals). Every second Wednesday on Rena’s site I will be posting about design trends and inspiration in retail. As always, colour will be main topic! Please join me there if you are interested. My first post went up this morning and I can’t wait to see what future retail details we can explore. Thanks Rena for a fabulous opportunity…

Now that plenty of colour is approaching its four month anniversary (yes, I’m going to celebrate each month!), I plan on launching more unique features. I am always going to showcase the many colour-loving designers, projects and items that inspire me but I’m also looking forward to having a couple more custom features to play with. I thought I would give a sneak peak of a new feature I am experimenting with – Assorted Colour. There are many blogs featuring colour palettes extracted from photographs which I love and am definitely inspired by. When I started this blog, I thought about going down a similar road but then I considered how I personally see colour palettes. A yellow car passing a red street pole and blue umbrella, a magenta paper clip next to a piece of turquoise twine and scrap of lavender felt – I realized that my inspiration for colour palettes came more from objects and the 3D world rather than just photographs. So, I decided to turn this realization into a new feature. I am very excited to experiment with objects and themes to create these Assorted Colour palettes from collections of colourful treasures. (p.s. forgive the quick shots but I was eager to play with this idea yesterday!)

(items in kitchen palette: mukitchen bamboo dishcloth in pacific, black tea, chive blossoms, le creuset mini cocotte in caribbean blue, kitchen craft colourworks spoon spatula in pink, kidney beans & tumeric)

(items in workshop palette: rubbermaid duster, screws, blue pool tile, duck brand duct tape in blue, vintage tinner’s snips, vintage mini robertson screwdriver, powdered chalk and green painter’s tape)

(photographs by plenty of colour)

I was halfway into preparing this week’s colour me happy theme of water when I heard about the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Needless to say, upon viewing the devastating images, I quickly abandoned my theme.

When I was a designer for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, I worked on a merchandised product that required separate editions for many different countries. Part of the product was an information booklet. To save money, the booklet was reproduced in black and white for every country except for one. I was told that Japan placed so much value on colour, their version would be the only exception. With that comment, I realized Japan might be my kindred spirit. Across architecture, textiles, stationery, food, fashion and every other avenue of design and art, there is so much innovation and astounding creativity in Japan. Watching the tragedy unfold, I feel what I am sure so many others do – totally helpless. I was thinking of that booklet project and, while I realize this post might not colour anyone in Japan happy, I hope it serves as a tribute and show of support to a nation that saturates so much of its life in vibrant, joyful colour.

(via sea of shoes, amir jina, sakura, chisato, chris meter, petit tows, karaoke, karaoke, aaron shumaker, sea of shoes, an tran, airisshuu, loren madsen, gernot, banana granola, ayahuasca, fever breaks)

I can’t believe plenty of colour has actually been around for a week! Thanks everyone for your support, comments, retweets and visits. Over the next bit, I will be introducing more of my special features. Also, up until now, I have only been posting once in the a.m. but that should change to several posts throughout the day as it is always nice to have something new and bright to look at during the afternoon slump! If you have any ideas or things you would like to see, please send them my way. Looking forward to even more colour inspiration hunting for many weeks to come! - Chloé

(ceramic clock from west elm)

After thinking about starting a colour and design blog for several years, I can’t believe today has finally arrived and the site is live. It’s a dream come true. If you are passionate about colour, you came to the right place! I hope to fill this site with inspiration drawn from architecture, art, design, food, fashion, photography, nature and all that is colourful.

I am working on some special features that should appear weekly. More on those soon…
Thanks for stopping by. Check back often for colour inspiration! – Chloé

(photo by the incredibly talented Grégoire Alexandre)