There are some things that belong together, like ham and egg, needle and thread, song and dance, hugs and kisses.
I’m sure you get my drift. The same is true with colors. There are just those two that belong together, and
we’d like to expound about those color pairings one by one (or is it two by two
🙂).

Black and white, you can’t get more basic than that. Perhaps because the combination is primal, it is very powerful and dramatic.

If you want a timeless and elegant color combination, go for black and white. Stark and pure, these would look apropos of a minimalist style. This combination can be very graphic. When you want to showcase shapes and lines, the color pairing of black and white acts like a backdrop that allows for vividness in detail.

Taken to an extreme, it can look harsh and grim, even desolate.  And we’d never want to have that for our homes. So here are five ways that you can soften the dichotomy.

Create a cheerful ambience by adding other colors. Restraint is necessary so as not to overpower the space.
Make the space vibrant with indoor plants.
Use a natural material like wood for the furnishings.
Use black only in the trims, like moldings.
Soft textured fabrics as well as the use of grey can alleviate the severity of the color combination.

The Many Faces of Black and White

Scientists have a lot to say about black and white. They question whether these are colors at all, whether these are found in a rainbow or not, whether light is absent in black or whether white is the sum of all colors. Chemists would argue that these are colors because black and white paint are the result of pigments and molecular coloring agents.

Not only scientists have something to say about black and white. Even philosophers, religious figures, or sorcerers attach meanings to these colors. Cultures also have their beliefs about it. In China and other Asian countries, white is for mourning and used in funerals, but in some Western cultures, white means purity and used for weddings.

Ted Grant, father of Canadian photojournalism who has had 65 years of recording notable people and world history, has this to say about black and white,

When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes.
But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!

Vantablack: The Blackest Black Material on Earth

I just saw this incredible innovation on CNN:

“Touted as the darkest man-made substance in the world, Vantablack is so uncomfortably black the human eye can’t quite decipher what it is seeing.

It is thought to be the closest thing to a black hole we will ever experience.

That’s because Vantablack is not a color, it’s the almost complete absence of color.

…Part of the appeal of Vantablack is that it absorbs 99.96% of the light that hits its surface.” 

Vantablack is made up of carbon nanotubes, one billion for one square meter, that are spaced perfectly apart. Creatives around the world are going gaga over this material, with architects at the top of the list.

For another color pairing, read about orange and blue.

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Author

Annie is the Managing Editor of Let it B | MyBoysen Blog. An unrepentant workaholic, she runs this blog and her own company Talking Lions (https://talkinglions.com). She thrives on collaborating with people who are good at what they do, and working together with them to create something special. Annie learned interior styling while managing her own wholesale business in the Netherlands, importing high-end, handmade home furnishings to stock four outlets and a showroom in the country.

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