Caparol Color Design Studio

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

Every year Caparol at the company headquarters prepares the sales staff for the trend colors of the coming year.

On the occasion of this event, the Malerblatt editorial team spoke to Margit Vollmert, head of the Color Design Studio, about the diversity of skills in her team.

Some of the heads from the color design studio (left to right): Corinna Schuchmann, Andrea Girgzdies, Margit Vollmert, Martina Lehmann

Malerblatt: Ms. Vollmert, first of all congratulations on the many awards of the past year. What is your conclusion?

Margit Vollmert: We can be proud of the "Best of best" award at the Iconic Awards for our new website Inspiration. Especially since we received the award for the fact that the website is not only aimed at a single target group, but that we managed to create a source of inspiration for everyone interested in color design. We map the entire design process in four areas: "See", "Feel", "Stories" and "Practice", from finding ideas, inspiration to very practical things, to "How do I do it now?".

How is your team composed? What kind of people work here?

The team is composed heterogeneously, from the competences as well as the approaches. From creative, experimental to highly analytical, from introvert to extrovert, everything is available. We have experts in every aspect of design in a team: architects, interior designers, color designers, painters, product designers. Not to forget, beyond this core team we are supported by external designers who always bring new impulses. Together with them, we monitor the development of new trends and exchange ideas on an ongoing basis.

Would you like to introduce us to two people who represent your team?

As a painter and color designer, Sabine Hoffner is our expert for individual surfaces. She knows current trends, asks the customers' ideas and subsequently creates new structures and sample areas. Sometimes it goes beyond the scope of classic product processing to implement exceptional customer ideas. Then it is imperative that we get approval from our technical experts so that the solution is durable.

Axel Voelcker is the head of digital color. For example, he and his team develop digital color collections or Spectrum, software for photo-realistic color and material design. The associated app, our latest product, makes digital color design accessible to everyone.

A selection of the trend colors for 2017

If you deal with special colors, for example copper, how do you approach the respective topic?

As designers, we use all imaginable inspirations, we analyze and search in a targeted manner, but we are also enthusiastic about the accidental. So it can be that we approach each other playfully, that is, we simply try out new techniques on a sample surface. We also check: What are the cultural values of the color or structure? What has gone into the collective memory? What should you get, where to look for a new approach? With copper, for example, one thinks of the roofs covered with verdigris. This creates images in our heads, which we then implement in shapes, structures and color worlds.

How do you ensure that if you develop individual, high-quality surfaces, they will be executed as desired on the object?

Our field service knows the artisans in the region and recommends those who are professionals in special technology. In the case of particularly unusual surfaces, someone from the FarbDesignStudio is on site and supports you with the instruction. The highest quality must be guaranteed here, because such objects in particular have radiance.

How do you get orders and how are they processed?

The customer approaches us through our sales force. Our team members are assigned to regions for color designs. This has the advantage that the respective designer has practically “inhaled” the regional colors. Customer loyalty is also important to us. If you often work with a customer, you develop a special feeling for their presentation. We put together a team for large or unusual projects. If I know, for example, where the focus of the design for the object is, I can choose someone suitable from the team, depending on whether an emotional, free-artistic way of working or an analytical reasoning is required.

If you consider the diverse tasks that are processed here, how would you describe the Color Design Studio?

What distinguishes us is the extensive knowledge of color in architecture: color planning, color perception, color in old age, the knowledge of atmosphere, regional colors and much more. Our core competence is based on many years of advice on construction, for the facade as well as for the interior. All other fields of work have developed from this. This includes the development of design tools, keyword color fan, trend research, our wide range of seminars and lectures as well as the subject of color digital, which we have been intensively devoting to since 2002. One can say: we are a creative cell around color and material, with a preference for interfaces and new things.

Thank you for the interview

The interview was conducted by Martin Mansel.

Photos: Malerblatt

Source: Malerblatt 3/2017

During the course of this year we will be introducing you to other heads with special expertise from the ColorDesignStudio. An interview soon: Trendscout Sybille Abel

www.caparol.de/inspiration

The Caparol Color Design Studio processes around 1,600 design orders per year. The awards that FDS projects received last year demonstrate that this high number is backed up with quality. The Café Wellnitz in Darmstadt stood out from the multitude of color and material concepts, a joint project with the interior designer Katja Feldmann. This design received two awards: the Iconic Awards 2016 and the German Design Award 2017. The team led by Margit Vollmert also convinced the jury of the Iconic Awards and the DDC with the redesign of the CaparolColor Compact color fan, first presented at FAF 2016.

The website www.caparol.de/inspiration appears in a completely new design. And that the ColorDesignStudio with its emotional address is on the right track is shown by the award with the “Best of Best” in the “Communication” category of the Iconic Awards 2016, with which the jury rewarded the intensive work for inspiration. In addition, the website received the “Special Mention” of the German Design Awards 2017 in February.