It was very windy in Vancouver yesterday and it made me think about my trip to Montreal last year. On a similarly windy day, I spotted a great piece of street art based on dance steps. It was a fairly large and fascinating drawing so I was trying to capture every angle. In one shot, my orchid coloured scarf caught the wind and flew into frame. I didn’t even notice until I went through my photos at home. I love when colour shows up unexpectedly and almost magically. It wasn’t a planned or professionally composed photo but it makes me happy nonetheless!

(photographs by chloé douglas)

I am always intrigued by Pantone’s Colour of the Year selections. They are almost always great indicators of colour trends ahead. Pantone’s ‘Blue Iris’ in 2008 was an insanely popular colour. I remember sitting in a meeting with seven other people wearing that exact hue! It wasn’t until I saw this image of the last 10 years worth of colour choices together that I realized how many have been similar. The shades selected for 2003, 2005 and 2010 are very alike but understandably so considering the popularity of turquoise-based colours. Pantone’s Colour of 2011, Honeysuckle, is a major departure from what has been selected in the past. It is a bold choice given some people’s automatic feelings about pink-based colours. However it is undeniably captivating and uplifting and I really love its tropical warmth. Hopefully Pantone keeps up the unique, inspiring and outside the box colour selections! (p.s. love this chart made by Pantone. It is interesting to read a little bit about the thoughts behind each choice.)

This installation by artist and urban planner Candy Chang is so creative and impossible not to love. Candy turned the side of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighbourhood into a giant strip of chalkboard where residents could take a piece of coloured chalk and asked themselves, “before I die I want to…” What a positive way to turn a rundown, eyesore of a building into something beautiful and uplifting. The responses range from poignant to sad to silly to hopeful. I love the way the coloured responses look against the distressed black chalkboard paint. The answers are meant to be rubbed off and rewritten by new visitors – allowing the installation to constantly evolve. I just love this and hope it inspires others to find creative and optimistic solutions to the eyesores in their neighbourhoods.

How beautiful is the ‘snowjob’ chair designed by emiliano godoy? Not only is it an amazing piece of modern yet handmade design, it is probably one of the most environmentally friendly pieces of furniture you will ever find. The wood frame is manufactured in FSC certified wood with a vegetable based, biodegradable finish. Fair trade employed artists in impoverished nations weave and fold post-industrial waste from the candy wrapping industry to create the incredible silver cover. Such a stunning chair with a wonderful message of environmental and social consciousness as well as seeing one person’s trash as your next great project.

(via designboom)

I really love Living etc. magazine, a modern interior design magazine based in London. Unlike many home magazines that feel overdone, cold or outrageously expensive, Living etc. is accessible, fun and colourful. I love the magazine’s layout design, whimsical but modern British sense of design and the fearless mix of pattern and bold colour. They also have a fantastic blog Living.Style.Etc. that contains tons of inspiring design ideas. I think it is time to splurge on an international subscription!

(images via living etc.)

Another incredible find from The Big Picture. These images of Nyiragongo Crater, in the heart of the Great Lakes region of Africa, are absolutely stunning. Photographer Olivier Grunewald and his team took a very dangerous trip to within one metre of the Crater’s rim to capture the biggest lava lake in the world (it holds 282 million cubic feet of lava.) Although many products and emergency signs in our world are painting vibrant orange, no man-made hue every seems to capture the brilliant and breathtaking orange of fire, lava and heat. To me, there is something impossible to replicate about true orange in nature. I am kind of glad as it allows some hues to remain special. I especially love the gorgeous gradient of orange to purple as the flame meets the unique volcano gases and disappears into the night air. Amazing. Please visit the rest of the incredible images here.

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture is one of my often visited bookmarks as it tells a news story through incredible photography sets. Their recent feature behind the scenes of New York Fashion Week has some great shots of how such a massive scale event comes to life. I love the photos with striking bits of colour. In particular, I have always wondered how runway shows are organized so I was excited to see the photos of fashion designer Jason Wu’s seating and model charts. Love how the model charts use colour coding to ensure all pieces come together (writing specific style names on top of blue dot for belts, yellow dot for handbags, red dot for necklaces, green dot for sunglasses and purple strips for bracelets or pins.) A strange detail but I really do enjoy colour coding! I recommend checking out the whole set here.

Burano is a centuries old island in the Venice Lagoon famous for its intricate lacework and fascinatingly colourful homes. In my research I found many different reasons for the use of vibrant paint colours including enabling fishermen to identify their homes in the fog, to act as a street address legend as Burano does not use house numbers, to indicate a specific family and finally, that the different shades corresponded to owner’s fishing boats. Whatever the reason, Burano looks like another brilliant colour mecca place to add to my ‘must-visit’ travel list!

(images via stefano, david cunningham, fsa99999, stefano, roberto marinoni, barbanna, barbara piancastelli, alberto, pete beck, david romagnoli)

I love watching the Oscars and especially the Oscar fashion. Among the hundreds of gowns, there always seem to be colour trends that emerge. Last night was no exception as bright red, shades of purple and sparkling metallics took centre stage. While a black dress will always be an elegant Hollywood classic, it was nice to see so much vibrant colour showcased. My favourites colours and gowns on the red carpet were Natalie Portman in fuschia Rodarte, Sandra Bullock in scarlet Vera Wang, Cate Blanchett in lilac Givenchy, Mila Kunis in lavender Elie Saab, Helen Mirren in metallic taupe Vivienne Westwood, Halle Berry in sparkly champagne Marchesa and Hilary Swank in silver ombré Gucci. I loved the mix of lilac and yellow leather pearls and crystals on Cate Blanchett’s high fashion gown. In addition to an unexpectedly gorgeous colour palette, it really stands out as a work of art. What were your favourites?

(images via elle, styleite & just jared)

Love these handsome silkscreen prints by brainstorm print & design. Using bold colour palettes and design, they feature the layers that make-up the ocean, earth and atmosphere. Such a brilliant and bold poster for any science, nature or design lover.

(via bancroft and ivy)

Yesterday marked the official month anniversary of plenty of colour! As a result, I thought confetti should be the theme for this week’s colour me happy feature. I love confetti and how its vibrance and motion makes for fabulous photography. Tossing pieces of bright paper in the air and letting them fall where they may? That has to colour you happy. (p.s. the top photo is of Times Square New Year’s Eve confetti testers checking their product. How do you get a job like that?!)

(images via msnbc, the sweet occasion, sophie wilson, nyc, willow osborn, lolita, joshua scott, ashley dzingle, the selby, youngna park)

Life Calendar by Barcelona-based Brigada Creativa allows you to sum up each day by drawing a face onto a colourful dot. I love the idea of this bright and graphic poster on an office wall. I imagine it provides some insight as well – patterns and arcs that emerge. It would be so interesting to look at a whole year in this way.

How can you not love a pop-up book? This series by graphic designer Daisy Lew is a unique type of pop-up book as it takes advantage of every angle. Each spread features New York’s famous cityscape from the sideview and a famous New York icon such as the Big Apple, the Chrysler Building and taxi cab from the top view. Such a fantastic piece of paper art.

I really like this project by Estudio Ibán Ramón titled “We Love Geometry”. The set consists of nine cards with unique geometrical renditions of the numbers one through nine. The cards fold out into posters and we discover that the numbers are part of a larger design. I like how this project works on two levels and features such bold black and white geometry and typography. Love how each number is given its own personality!

(via shiro to kuro)

Over the last couple of years I have come across quite a few photos of chalk and graffiti colour wheels in various parts of Paris. I love the idea of such a bright, design-focused wheel popping up among the streets of the City of Light. The manhole covers are fantastic! I have tried researching their origin and/or if they are still being created but there appears to be almost no information anywhere The only specific spot I know one of these happy features was placed is Parc de la Villette. Maybe some Paris dwellers/experts are reading and can shed some light? In any case, the colour wheels bring joy and life to plain grey concrete so perhaps that is all the information needed?

(images via claire evans, rob meertens, molly steenson, clotilde dusoulier, maggie kaisser)

I really love the work of artist Francisca Prieto and her folded, intricate paper installations. Photos of her amazing pieces are prominent among my boxes and folders of inspiration. Francisca uses many types of paper for her art from written versions of Shakespeare to newspapers and maps. I love them all but my absolute favourite is what she creates with envelopes. I have always been fascinated by the ornate security patterns printed inside envelopes. Francisca folded hundreds of interlocking forms with these intriguing blue designs to create her ‘Between Folds – Envelopes’ series. The colour palette, mix of patterns and 3D nature of these envelope origami installations is stunning. I can’t wait to see what Francisca comes up with next!