Let me preface this by saying that red was never my favourite colour! Never. In my whole life, I think I owned only eight red pieces of clothing. But there is something about this colour… Kind of like when you dislike someone, but you still find that person attractive and yet you have no idea why.
I’ve worked for many different companies in my life, and – oddly enough – the ones that I stayed with the longest had a red logo and a red corporate identity. As much as I tried to push red to the side, it always snuck back up on me. I tried to focus on the negatives and weighed different options in order to not use this goddamn colour. And yet, when I opened my portfolio, it was red on every corner! What the hell happened?! It was right then that I decided to use every colour but red for the next year. At first I was thrilled by this new universe in front of me: shades of blue, green, yellow, grey, and black – a colour which I especially fell back in love with. Admittedly, orange was too close to red, so I skipped that one. So there I was, playing around with a colour palette. But still, the red was sneaking back into my thoughts. Was I delusional? Of course I couldn’t use it, I was sick of it. Or was I?
Perhaps, red is just a shortcut that I feel most comfortable using. After all, I’ve now been dealing with it for years. After all the frustration with red, I think I’ve reached the point where I can handle it. I’ve learned how this colour behaves on different materials, the impact it leaves on people, and how to properly use it to make a strong point. In fact, it has grown so dear to me that I even wear it now. I guess it’s true that we can get used to anything… and that you can own more than eight pieces of red clothing in a lifetime.