Black Is Beautiful

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

Is black the trend color par excellence or rather a long-running favorite at an aesthetically high but economically low level? As well … as. In any case, the following applies: black is a statement - on the facade, but even more inside.

Author: Armin Scharf

Black is not easy. Even mud brown, pink or dusty gray polarize less than what theoretically swallows all light. Theoretically, because practically even the blackest black reflects a fraction of the incident light. The currently blackest black is called “Vantablack”, is manufactured by the British company Surry NanoSystems and swallows 99.965 percent of the visible light. This effect is based on vertically standing carbon nanotubes, between which the incident light is constantly reflected back and forth, that is to say quasi captured.

Black to disappear

In the meantime, Surrey NanoSystems offers another material that is less complex to apply. "VBx2" was specially designed for large-area spray application - for example of buildings. How strange the result is, was shown by British architect Asif Khan at a temporary pavilion for Hyundai during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Coated with the 99 percent absorbing "VBx2", the parabolic forms of the facade cladding were visually swallowed. The cubic pavilion appeared more as an empty space in the landscape than as a body. Just like the stars in space, the integrated small points of light gave a sense of space.

According to the manufacturer, "VBx2" does not use nanoscale materials, but is not permanently abrasion-resistant and is suitable for substrates made of concrete, metal, wood, plastic. The dispersion material is not freely available, as a dual-use material it is subject to strict British export restrictions.

More color in black

“Vantablack” and its derivatives aimed exclusively at blackness are, however, rather uninteresting from a design point of view. A more varied black has a clear advantage here, that is, the colored black shade. Of course, this is not a completely new thing, colored black was propagated as the newest trend years ago - but has not really been able to establish itself. Black seems to have a difficult time, especially in Germany - seeing black is a characteristic trait that Germans like to have, but this does not affect the color inside or outside. Black is still a niche, economically speaking. The Swiss paint manufacturer kt.color estimates that around four percent of the wall colors produced come from the black area,while the quota for paints is around 25 percent. This is confirmed qualitatively by Rainer Becker from Farrow & Ball: "In the UK, black is an established color in the interior and is used much more often than here". But, in recent years, black has also become more popular in Germany. It is a very special target group that uses black as a statement, sometimes for individual wall panels, sometimes for ceilings. Katrin Trautwein from kt.color also confirms this: "Experience has shown that our black tones are used for walls in bars, bedrooms and occasionally in salons." Black had a firm place in interior design at the beginning of the 20th century - but black was then at the time been a lot more polychrome than today."In the UK, black is an established color in the interior and is used much more often than here". But, in recent years, black has also become more popular in Germany. It is a very special target group that uses black as a statement, sometimes for individual wall panels, sometimes for ceilings. Katrin Trautwein from kt.color also confirms this: "Experience has shown that our black tones are used for walls in bars, bedrooms and occasionally in salons." Black had a firm place in interior design at the beginning of the 20th century - but black was then at the time been a lot more polychrome than today."In the UK, black is an established color in the interior and is used much more often than here". But, in recent years, black has also become more popular in Germany. It is a very special target group that uses black as a statement, sometimes for individual wall panels, sometimes for ceilings. Katrin Trautwein from kt.color also confirms this: "Experience has shown that our black tones are used for walls in bars, bedrooms and occasionally in salons." Black had a firm place in interior design at the beginning of the 20th century - but black was then at the time been a lot more polychrome than today.that black uses as a statement, sometimes for individual wall panels, sometimes for ceilings. Katrin Trautwein from kt.color also confirms this: "Experience has shown that our black tones are used for walls in bars, bedrooms and occasionally in salons." Black had a firm place in interior design at the beginning of the 20th century - but black was then at the time been a lot more polychrome than today.that black uses as a statement, sometimes for individual wall panels, sometimes for ceilings. Katrin Trautwein from kt.color also confirms this: "Experience has shown that our black tones are used for walls in bars, bedrooms and occasionally in salons." Black had a firm place in interior design at the beginning of the 20th century - but black was then at the time been a lot more polychrome than today.

Why black is not black

The reason: At that time, the coatings were based on mineral pigments, which, depending on the mining area, contained other minerals that brought in subtle colored components. It was only the carbon black pigments that are industrially produced and used today that brought monochrome, almost uniform black shades onto the market.

Perhaps, however, a new impetus is coming to the topic: Caparol recently presented a 16-part color fan, consisting exclusively of black. But the few nuances have it all, sometimes they tend towards red, blue, green or even yellow. Not really noticeable at first, only in comparison with neutral black does a color component appear that shines mysteriously from the dark depth. Only when the fan is brought to the large area is the surprise perfect. "The color tones differ minimally from one another," explains Carmen Rubinacci from the Caparol Color Studio, "and give rooms depth, bring out furniture and accessories to their best advantage." between color studio and coloristics required. Ultimately, the implementation was only possible thanks to new carbon black pigments that are now in the tinting pastes.

Soot here, leg black there

In contrast to the Upper Ramstadt town, kt.color relies on opaque ivory black, which is primarily obtained by charring bones with exclusion of oxygen. And so, according to Trautwein, a black based on this pigment tends to develop a material character with a three-dimensional appearance. Each representative of the Swiss black range contains at least 50 percent ivory black, the rest consists of other mineral pigments that, among other things, produce the desired color effect. Ultramarine turquoise is such a colored pigment, including ruby red, ultramarine blue or cobalt green.

More photos:

PraxisPlus

Further information

• www.surreynanosystems.com
• www.ktcolor.ch
• www.caparol.de
• www.farrow-ball.com/de