Several trend forecasters proclaim that black-and-white interiors have had their moment. Even Scandinavians, who aren’t exactly known for utilising a vivid colour palette, are showing greater interest in colour. Note Design Studio and stylist Sara Garanty, as well as paint manufacturers Jotun and Alcro, are setting course for a Scandinavia that is (somewhat) more kaleidoscopic when it comes to colours.

What we find interesting about this development is not only that designs and interiors are given a greater diversity of hues, but also how designers, architects and stylists are exploring how the end users of these items and environments are affected by the choice of colour on a deeper level. Frame Publishers’s book Colour Hunting is an excellent study into how colour plays a vital role in our visual experiences and affects senses such as touch and even taste.

Brand new biannual magazine Sindroms, founded by Miruna Sorescu and Ana Teodorel, takes colour psychology a step further by selecting a specific colour and basing an entire issue around it. The first issue, which is hot off the presses as I write this, dives into the colour red. This virtually un-ignorable colour is looked at in depth, “investigating it across culture and immersing readers in the feelings and moods evoked by it”.

Although a bold choice for a first-ever issue, the hue should be no stranger to Swedes, as many of us grew up surrounded by the traditional Swedish ‘Falu red’ paint that has been the colour of choice for wooden cottages, houses and barns since the 16th Century.