Institute selected 200 new colors which
would be more in line with the way
paints and coatings would have to be
produced and give color users the opportunity to use more sensitive shades of
lower chromatic properties.
VOCs are the gasses emitted from a
certain number of solids of liquids.
Aside from the inherent toxic properties they are found in a large number
of traditional paints and surface coatings, giving the ability to generate
more poppy, chromatic colors. In
Europe the European SED-Solvent
Emission Drive came into play in 2007
and, while companies and users may
be upset at not being able to reach certain colors and finishes, the fact is that
VOCs are on the way out.
A study by Belgium-based Irfab
Chemical Consultants in 2005 highlighted, “Quality and cost restraints,”
as a key opposing factor to reduced
VOCs. It cited that, “In some sectors
such as wood finishes it is rather difficult to replace solvent-based coatings
since it simply does not result in the
desired finish.”
In some sectors an alternative ‘
secondary’ solvent abatement was being
used but this was not without its own
financial drawbacks. Benjamin Moore
is one of the biggest producers of paint
in the world and commands a vast
audience where color is concerned.
Carl Minchew, Benjamin Moore’s
director of color technology said that
the impact of VOC regulations has
been to drive down the VOC of all
paints and reduce the availability of
alkyd paints thinned with hydrocarbon solvents. Among the developments
and advances from his department in
response to the changing market
Minchew said, “Benjamin Moore developed a completely new tinting system
with no VOC and a new ultra-premi-um, low VOC product line called Aura.
Recently we introduced a high-performance ‘green’ product with zero
VOC called Natura which uses the
same tinting system.”
However, if according to the research
and places like the Scandinavian Color
Institute with its Natural Color
System, humans do see ten million colors, a small reduction on the availability on those colors is hardly spilled
milk. Linking to the VOC laws and the
manner in which they will and indeed
have been affecting the brights it is
possible to achieve, but is it really as
big a problem as people fear?
Enberg thinks not. “It’s a relatively
unknown phenomenon and it only
occurs with colors used on exteriors
but it does have a huge effect. I suppose you would call it a shift in the perception of color,” she said. “Every color
has inherent properties (in a neutral
state) however there is also the perception of a color, which differs greatly
when placed outside. Sunlight, daylight, surrounding colors, surface, texture and the inherent color itself can
have an effect on how the human eye
takes in that color.”
Trained, as with the majority of
Swedish architects, in the NCS system
Enberg explained that while original
study in the phenomenon was carried
out by the late Anders Hård (the originator of the NCS system) a more recent
study by Karin Fridell Anter, entitled
“What Color is the Red House,” shows
that this shifting perception of color
can be rather staggering.
Enberg said that this is very common in greys, which can be perceived
as blues. With paint companies and
manufacturers so unaware this happens, she stresses that, “Only with
cooperation and transfer of knowledge
between not only color systems but
between education, architects and
companies can color in design and
architecture continue to grow.
Citing the cases of RAL and NCS,
the introduction of new softer colors
does give architects much more to play
with and gently move away from black
and white, with accuracy being the key
to avoiding those costly mistakes.
Moving towards the systems themselves, we looked at RAL and NCS and
their respective new colors—
sympathetic to the VOC laws. But what of the
others and what of their relevance to
the industry and the ways they can
make easier use of color?
“For the industry one of the key
areas in which a good color system is
becoming more important is in the
securing of brands and identity colors for larger multinationals,” said
Khosla. “We can first identify the
brand colors accurately before producing tolerance guides and scales
which make sure that companies can
get color consistency no matter
where they expand to.”
For producers this means that if you
are also using the same color system to
guarantee your own accuracy and consistency you will appeal to a much
greater proportion of the contract market. It is a simple matter of logic. IKEA
is one such company that used a tolerance guide and range of bespoke color
