The installation sought to bridge centuries of artisanal expertise with neuroaesthetics, the effect of art and design on thinking and emotion. “People think of paint as flat,” Reddy notes, “but it’s alive—absorbing, reflecting, and transforming depending on the environment.”
An immersive installation by Reddymade constructed for India’s Architecture & Design Film Festival Mumbai celebrated the launch of the world’s largest paint library.
Reddymade Brings Color And Artistry
- 15 designers, engineers, and builders led by Reddymade founder Suchi Reddy
- 5,300 colors in Asian Paints Chromacosm
- 1,628 8 ½-foot-tall rods
- 2,200 colors in the installation
- 780 square feet
Ancient tantric paintings used to awaken states of heightened consciousness from the Rajasthani book Tantra Song, long an inspiration for Reddymade founder Suchi Reddy, rose into focus as she ideated Chromacosm commissioned by Indian paint manufacturer Asian Paints for the launch of its Chromacosm architectural color system at the Architecture & Design Film Festival Mumbai earlier this year.
Reddy’s early water color sketch reimagines paint as a 3D medium that interacts with space, light, and shadow.
A still from Asian Paints’s film shows the development of the new system, composed of thousands of shades.
Part of Reddymade’s two week design process involved creating installation renderings in Rhinoceros, AutoCAD, and Photoshop that show a walkable grove of tall tubular steel rods coated in the myriad Asian Paints colors.
Chromacosm, the book depicting the full library, comes out in May.
Chromacosm was constructed over one month on the grounds of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, where the ADFF Mumbai was held January 9 to 12, the Asian Paints colors drawn from Indian craft traditions, such as Ajrakh and Kalamkari block printing.
Visitors walked amid the vertical rods, which transitioned from black to vivid hues, symbolizing how color emerges from within the depths of the cosmos.
The installation sought to bridge centuries of artisanal expertise with neuroaesthetics, the effect of art and design on thinking and emotion. “People think of paint as flat,” Reddy notes, “but it’s alive—absorbing, reflecting, and transforming depending on the environment.”
