‘After decades of grey, black and white, I’m happy to see warm and nurturing tones coming back to our lives– they make our bodies feel rooted and stimulate our senses in a nourishing way.’ So says the Danish textile and colour designer Margrethe Odgaard, illustrating the understanding of hues that has led an array of iconic design brands to collaborate with her.
First discovered by Hay, which launched her ‘Fold Unfold’ tablecloth, Odgaard has since worked with Muuto on a range of rugs, throws and cushions, created textiles for Georg Jensen Damask and developed a new palette for Montana furniture, launching in May.
With every product she works on, an in-depth study of colour is paramount, the starting point of which is often her ‘colour diaries’. Originally a personal project to record the mix of shades she spotted around the world, Odgaard’s painted and drawn observations form visual travel journals so beautiful that those from Japan, Morocco and Iceland have been put into print by design studio A. Petersen. ‘I’m fascinated by the colour combinations created by humans in architecture and objects,’ she tells us. ‘These schemes express design choices, behind which are traces of tradition and culture.’ Other influences in her work include abstract painters Agnes Martin, Ellsworth Kelly and Donald Judd.
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This year will see her release two books on colour– including a diary of the Nordic countries, which has been three years in the making – and the launch of curtains and upholstery fabric with Kvadrat, as well as two solo exhibitions in Danish galleries. As she says, the future’s looking bright. margretheodgaard.com
This article first appeared in ELLE Decoration February 2019
