An amazing discovery in South Africa, as seen in today’s New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/science/14paint.html?pagewanted=1&hp
Goosebumpy stuff.
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Have you ever been to Chefchaouen, a stunning little town tucked away in Morocco’s Rif Mountains?
Chefchaouen, Morocco
Many of the town’s buildings are painted with an ethereal, translucent blue pigment, similar to haint blue. The result is other-worldly, really. And although I’ve seen some blue-painted buildings in Essaouira, Rabat and a few towns in Israel, I’m not aware of any other towns painted blue to this extent in northern Africa or the Middle East.
So, how did most of Chefchaouen get painted blue? Why here and nowhere else? Who painted the town blue? Why and when did this happen? As an architectural historian, I was eager to find out the answers.
Local lore and town historians say the blue paint originated from the Jewish refugees who came here after fleeing the Spanish Reconquista. The town grew enormously between the 15th and 17th centuries with the arrival of Moriscos and Sephardic Jews from Spain.
Perhaps this theory has a seed of truth to it. Jewish tradition mentions the practice of weaving blue threads into prayer shawls to symbolize holiness and heaven and protect from evil. If they carried this belief into their architecture, it makes sense, then, that they would paint their houses in this hue, too. We’ve seen this with the Gullah culture’s haint blue.
A few towns in Israel, such as Safed, have blue doors and trim, but it’s a very pale blue wash, not as bold as the Chefchaouen buildings.
In fact, this pale blue is most likely truer and more authentic than the current electric blues in Chefchaouen. A few seasoned Morocco travelers I’ve talked to report that Chefchaouen’s blue has gotten progressively bolder and bluer through the years. One visitor mentioned that as late as the 1970s, the town had just a few blue buildings, and the blue was a very pale color (probably similar to the Israeli blue). It’s not known when this pale blue tradition started, most likely at the end of the 19th or early 20th centuries.
So, alas, although more research has to be done, it seems that the powerful, in-your-face, bold blue paint of Chefchaouen is a fairly modern development.
Historically authentic, or not, the town’s color is pretty fabulous. See for yourself.
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Whether you’re designing a new restaurant or renovating an old place, you can transform your restaurant overnight without breaking the bank or breaking your back. Here are 3 easy tips to help you get started:
1. Get rid of those fluorescent lights
Yeah, I know, you say they save energy and money and they’ve been in your restaurant forever. You’d rather not change them.
But, they’re horridly ugly and they’re toxic if they break. They also cast everything in a bilious yellowishy-green tinge. Do you really want your restaurant to look like Walmart?
Change ‘em out for incandescent bulbs* or warm LED lights (even more efficient than fluorescents). They’ll make your space feel more comfy and warm, plus they’ll make your food look more appetizing. Even your customers will look more attractive.
If that’s not an option, then at least install wall sconces, hanging pendants and recessed lights that project light onto tables instead of patrons, and don’t illuminate the entire restaurant like a school cafeteria. Warm LED lights with amber colored shades add warmth and coziness, too, so if you can’t afford new light fixtures, try swapping out the shades.
Funky Edison Bulbs Give Restaurants Some Pizzazz (photo by Dan Hugos)
If you have dimmers, use them. (Some LED lights can be dimmed.) Turn them down. Think Barry White. If people say they can’t read the menu, your menu font is too small. Buy a couple of pairs of reading glasses at the dollar store and have your wait staff hand them out to guests with short arms.
And, unless you operate a place that’s active in the daytime for breakfast and lunch, like a pancake house or fast-food taco joint, invest in a few dozen candles with clear class votives. Poof! Instant atmosphere! (Sorry, battery-operated plastic flickering candles are not a substitute.)
2. Pay attention to the noise
If you don’t have music playing over a stereo system, start piping it in. Eating without music is like eating in church. It’s awkward and everyone hears everything, and I mean everything. We’d rather not overhear your kitchen staff swear like drunken sailors, thank you.
If you do play a stereo, make sure it’s not too loud. My beau and I actually like having conversations over dinner, believe it or not. If your music is too loud we can’t hear ourselves think. Don’t let the sub-woofers vibrate your seats, either. We didn’t pay extra for a Magic Fingers massage chair.
Make sure your music matches your restaurant’s atmosphere. Don’t play jaunty accordion music in a Victorian dining room while your guests dine on your Cordon Bleu chef’s food. (True experience, name has been withheld to protect the clueless restaurant owner.)
Don’t forget those TVs, either. Turn them down, put on closed captioning or get rid of the darn things. Unless I’m in a sports bar and the US is playing in the World Cup finals, I don’t want to stare at them while I’m dining. I can sit on my sofa and do that just fine, thank you.
3. Paint a wall, paint a ceiling … in any color but white
Just One Colorful Accent Wall, Like This, Can Transform a Space (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
Look around you — what color are your restaurant walls? What color is the ceiling? White? There are millions of colors in the world, please, I beg you… choose a color that has some pep and adds some life to your restaurant.
The right colors can actually increase sales, too, by making people eat more and want to come back. So change it up!
If you’re nervous, just paint one wall and see what people say. Pick a color from the carpet or upholstery and run with it. (The restaurant in the picture previously had white walls. I added a deep brick terracotta color to one accent wall, and voila!) Consider muted, tertiary colors that stimulate appetites – dark reds, deep pumpkins, mellow sunflower yellows – think vegetables. If you’ve got an acoustic tile ceiling, rent a paint sprayer and add some color to that sterile ceiling and get rid of those water stains. There’s no law that says acoustic tile ceilings have to stay white. (At least not inPennsylvania, anyway.)
*soon to be obsolete, so stock pile them while you can!
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Stay tuned for more tasty tidbits on inexpensive ways to transform your restaurant.
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The mere mention of Pompeian wall painting conjures up images of deep red, yellow and charcoal black panels decorated with half-naked mythical figures and fantastic architectural ornament. (See last week’s post about Pompeian wall painters.)
While there’s no doubt this fabulous wall decoration is stunning and noteworthy, it’s not the only interior decorating style the ancient Romans used on their walls.
Zebra Stripes, Villa Poppea, Oplontis (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
Surprisingly, the ancient Romans painted funky black and white diagonal stripes – zebra stripes — on the hallway walls of their homes and shops. Mostly used for decorating the service corridors and hallways, this bold and crazy design has been found in several locations in Pompeii and elsewhere.
The most impressive examples I’ve seen are at the Villa Poppea, built in the 1st century BC in the ancient town of Oplontis (now modern day Torre Annuziata).
Villa Poppea at Oplontis (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
Allegedly, the villa may have been occupied by Nero’s second wife, Poppea Sabina. (Although the jury’s still out on this one.) The renovation work on the villa began in 62 AD, either due to damage from the big earth quake of that year, or because of the marriage between Nero and Poppea, who may have been decorating their dream home. Either way, renovation work was still underway during August of 79 AD, when Vesuvius blew her top and buried it all.
The villa, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, was partially excavated in the 1960’s. Sadly, about half the villa remains under the town’s main street and buildings, but what has been excavated is spectacular and well worth the short detour from the more famous sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
A few months ago during a visit there, I was busy snapping photos of lovely decorated dining rooms and bedrooms in the villa. I turned a corner and saw the zebra stripes for the first time. I yelped with joy — I had certainly never seen anything like it, nor had a read about it. I needed to know more.
After coming home from Italy, I started to dig up a bit of information about the zebra stripes. According to historian and Cambridge professor Mary Beard, this zebra paint was pretty common, but little of it remains in situ, as far as I know.
From a practical standpoint, the zebra stripes were certainly a quick, cheap way to decorate long hallways that wouldn’t normally be seen by the visiting public. The pigments used to make the black and white paint were cheap and found locally – probably black soot and white chalk or lime – so it makes sense to use them for this purpose. The stripes would have hidden scuffs and dirt, as well. But at Oplontis, amazingly enough, these zebra stripes were in public corridors, too.
Must have been a wild sight to see. Sonny and Cher would have loved it.
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It’s a hot, steamy August day, AD 79. Tucked away behind a bakery, just off Pompeii’s busy Via dell’ Abbondanza, several painters are hard at work, decorating a large room in one of Pompeii’s houses.
Quite a bit of the wall decoration has just been done, so they’ve moved on to the central panel of the middle section, and are working from the top, down. Two red and black panels have just been painted with playful scenes of a god, cupids, nymphs, and goats pulling chariots. Whimsical trompe l’oeil architectural columns, covered in foliage, vines, flowers and birds, separate the panels. The central panel has just been plastered, with mythological figures sketched out in yellow ochre, ready for the painter to work quickly with his paint.
Two of the painters (perhaps a painter and his apprentice or slave) stand side-by-side on scaffolding or ladders while they fresco one panel with black paint. One of their more experienced co-workers stands at the east wall, painting the final details of the wall’s trompe l’oeil architectural decoration. A fourth talented colleague is nearby, applying the final secco details to the finished frescoes.
Restored (1909) Frescoes, Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
Restored (1909) Frescoes, Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
A huge renovation project is underway. Painting supplies are scattered everywhere — mixing bowls, plaster jars and dozens of tiny pots of paint sit on shelves or in baskets nearby. Piles of shiny mosaic tesserae, lime and sand sit nearby.
It’s a regular work day, filled with chatter, gossip and a fast food lunch from one of the food stalls nearby. Suddenly, the sky grows dark. It’s hard for the workers to see what they’re doing. They rush to the windows and doors to see what’s going on. The skies begin to empty on their heads – ash and pumice begin to rain down on them from above. The ash rain gets heavier and heavier, until it starts to accumulate on the ground. Chaos and panic ensue, and the painters flee their workplace, leaving their paint pots uncovered and the plaster, wet.
Mount Vesuvius was erupting. Little did the painters know that this fiery volcanic ash would continue to fall from the sky, along with large pieces of pumice, for the next 12 hours, eventually burying their city in over 2 meters of debris that day. Hopefully they were able to leave town to escape the toxic gases and burning cinders that hit Pompeii the next day, smothering everyone and everything under 6 more meters of ash.
Despite the tragic circumstances, Vesuvius’ eruption created an unbelievable snapshot into the everyday lives of ancient Romans in Pompeii, Herculaneum and beyond. The excavated artifacts at this site help shed light on the rich architectural history of Pompeii, including historic paint methods and design techniques. The house where they were working is now appropriately called the House of the Painters at Work and today it serves as a valuable resource of scholarly information.
In addition to the incredible collection of painter’s supplies and equipment that was left behind, in situ, two types of paint were found in the room – paint with a binder (most likely egg) that would be used for secco decorating (painted details that were applied over finished fresco) and paint without a binder that would be mixed with water and used for frescoes.
The painters were using 7 basic colors for this particular project: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black and white. Lab analysis shows the paints were made from 15 pigments, including soot (black) and chalk or limestone (white), both found locally.
More exotic imported pigments included hematite, the mineral form of iron oxide (red), celadonite from Cyprus (green), and pricey Egyptian blue, which was available commercially and made with a heated mixture of sand, copper and calcium carbonate.
The painters were working with pigments and paints that reflected the general artistic trends of Pompeii during that time. While the so-called Pompeian Red is the most well-known color from ancient Pompeii, yellow and black were used frequently, as well. Black was the most popular panel background color for most ancient Romans’ “best” rooms (probably because it was inexpensive and easy to produce locally) but yellow (made from yellow ochre or ground Goethite) and red (often made from hematite or cinnabar) were chosen by the wealthier patrons because they were more costly. Red, despite its popularity, may have not been as widespread as previously thought, because scientists have discovered that the yellow ochre paint changed to red under the intense heat of the eruption and blast.
Oplontis Wall Paintings, near Pompeii (photo by Nancy Zeigler)
If Vesuvius had remained dormant on that fateful day, the painters would have finished their room in typical Pompeian style: a typical three-part design with framed sections or panels with red, yellow or black backgrounds, filled with figures or scenes. Attenuated, fantastic architectural elements with flowers, vines, foliage or birds frame the panels, and an trompe l’oeil dado would have run along the bottom of the wall, visually dividing the space.
When archaeologists uncovered these incredible frescoes at Pompeii and Herculaneum during the 18th century, their discoveries ignited a frenzy in the European art and architecture worlds. Suddenly, copying the ancient world was the trendiest, hippest thing to do. From Neoclassical architecture and Wedgwood pottery to Canova’s sculpture and Empire furniture (to name just a few examples), the rediscovery of this ancient world influenced the entire European aesthetic.
If only our humble painters knew what kind of influence they had on the entire world.
Sources:
Mary Beard, Fires of Vesuvius; Cottica & Mazzochin, University of Venice, Pots with Coloured Powders from the Forum of Pompeii; Pompeii Scavi
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There’s a reason the arches of McDonald’s are golden and not some neon shade of pink.
In fact, if you pay attention you’ll notice that most fast-food restaurants have a common color pattern of yellows, oranges and reds. It’s in their logos, their advertising and on the outside of the buildings. Why?
These colors have been proven to stimulate appetite and create excitement.
Over the past several decades, several color psychology experts and scholars — including Dr. Heinrich Frieling (1990), Faber Birren (1982), and Frank Mahnke (1996) — have studied the effects that certain colors have on the human appetite.
Their findings were similar: Warm reds (think coral, tomatoes and hot peppers), warm yellows (imagine squash, ripe bananas, sunshine) and fresh spring greens (crispy lettuce leaves) stimulate appetite, while purples, yellow-greens, mustards, violets and grey tones inhibit appetite.
Imagine how it would feel to sit in a restaurant that was saturated in grey or mustard? Not too appealing, obviously. In fact, it may feel a little nauseating, if it’s really over done.
This is why color consulting is so important for your business.
Take, for example, this bilious green bar in a restaurant/pub I redesigned last year. The bar had great features – an ornate 19th-century tin ceiling, a handsome oak bar – but all of these details were obscured by a sea of Astroturf-like green paint. It was everywhere – wainscoting, walls, ceiling. Like Kermit says, it definitely wasn’t easy bein’ green. Especially when everything was covered in a coat of nicotine.
The Pub ~ Before Renovation
After workers literally steam-cleaned the place, I changed the palette to dark, warm colors to reflect its grand Victorian past and highlight the original details of the place. I used a deep brick-tomato red for the walls and painted the trim a dark chocolate brown. It’s a bit more cozy, intimate and comfortable than before, eh?
The Pub ~ After Renovation
Do the colors in your restaurant stimulate or repress appetites?
Pay attention, it could be time for a change.
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