A Matter of Colour

Dean Brown’s exhibition at the Sèvres Gallery, Paris, refers to different facets of the colouring process, demonstrating the journey from pigment, through swatch to full colour.

Dean Brown, a young Scottish designer collaborates for the first time with Sèvres – Cité de la Céramique, a porcelain producer based in Paris.

Using the colour palettes that have made the company successful since the eighteenth century, the project is a vivid celebration of white porcelain and vibrant pigments.

“A Matter of Colour” is an exhibition inspired by the opposite ends of the porcelain making process – the finished porcelain object and the raw materials that are the essence of its colouring.

On view a collection of 14 vase’s consisting of porcelain, 24 colour pigments, free blown glass and powder coated aluminium. Starting by selecting classical forms from the extensive Sèvres archive, each of the 14 unglazed vases are adorned with colour.

As a celebration of “work in progress” the colour pigments, considered as the final step in the finishing of porcelain, are held in and around the uncoated vase, collected in glass containers that form handles, lids and decorative features.

The viewer is encouraged to imagine the white form transformed by the colour, invited to make their own interpretation of the potential between the object and the unapplied colour.

Dean Brown, A Matter of Colour, the Colour Wheel

Continuing the theme of colour process, the Colour Wheel is an experiential installation which features in the exhibition alongside the Vase Collection. Inspired by the laboratory tools of porcelain making a slowly rotating carousel holds 24 glass test tubes filled with 24 of Sèvres most iconic pigments, the powders rising and falling like sand timers as they follow the rhythmic motion of the wheel. These vivid powders, primarily blue in tone, were selected by the designer and derived from a remarkable factory tool known to the Sèvres craftsmen as the Pallette Vase.

The Pallette Vase normally an unseen process artifact has been painted methodically with all the colour swatches of the Sèvres Pallette and sits at the centre of the Colour Wheel.

Dean Brown, A Matter of Colour, Test Vase

The third and final feature of “A Matter of Colour” is the Test Vase – a simple, micro scale vase that is used to test colouring effects in a controlled manner. Like the Pallette Vase the Test Vase is another unseen treasure that is familiar to the factory setting but for the first time shown and sold to the public.

For the exhibition the test Vases have been glazed in the 24 colours corresponding to the Colour Wheel, and adorned with a cork and brass tag denoting the factory code of its colour.