Inspiration
Craft
In spatial design, colour is often treated as a visual layer — added late, or softened to ensure broad acceptance. In material-driven environments, it becomes something more tangible: a tool for shaping atmosphere and emotional response.
Practical perspectives for interior architects and buyers.
In conversations around our event Chromatic Lab in Madrid, colour expert Judith van Vliet, founder of The Color Authority, emphasised that confidence in colour begins with understanding how it interacts with material, particularly leather.
She shares five perspectives on how colour can be approached with greater clarity and confidence.
1. Start with feeling, not palette
Colour is often judged through renderings and mood boards. Spatial experience, however, is embodied.
“The most important question is not how a colour looks, but how it makes us feel in a specific setting, in relation to light,” van Vliet says.
In leather applications, colour supports the emotional reading of a space through warmth, tactility and depth – not as surface styling, but as part of lived experience.
2. Understand how material transforms colour
Colour never exists independently of material. Finish, structure and light absorption alter perception.
“A matte material influences colour very differently than a gloss finish on the same surface,” van Vliet explains. “Texture and embossing add another layer of expression.”
Matte leather softens colour. Gloss intensifies it. Grain introduces complexity. Integrating material knowledge early enables more nuanced colour decisions.
“A matte material influences colour very differently than a gloss finish on the same surface. Texture and embossing add another layer of expression.”
3. Introduce colour through tactility
Colour can feel abstract in architectural processes. Through touch, it becomes intuitive.
“Working hands-on with leather allowed me to test colour, texture and emboss directly,” van Vliet notes. “That immediate feedback changes how you understand colour.”
Leather enables designers to experience colour sensorially, reducing uncertainty and supporting more deliberate use.
“Working hands-on with leather allowed me to test colour, texture and emboss directly. That immediate feedback changes how you understand colour.”
4. Work with context, not universals
Neutral palettes are often used to please broadly. The result can be spatial anonymity.
“Colour becomes meaningful when it responds to people, use and light conditions,” van Vliet observes. “Designing to please everyone often leads to whites, greys and beiges.”
Leather, with its associations to craft and heritage, can help anchor colour in context and identity.
5. Move beyond neutrality with intention
Muted tones frequently reflect caution rather than intent.
“Neutrality is often chosen out of fear,” van Vliet says. “Subtle tonal variation and material richness can introduce character without overwhelming.”
Through calibrated shifts in tone, finish and texture, leather can mediate between calmness and expression.
About Judith van Vliet
Judith van Vliet is a colour expert and founder of The Color Authority. She has worked internationally with brands and design teams on colour strategy, materiality and emotional design. Her work focuses on the psychological and sensory impact of colour across physical and spatial contexts.