“Tastes and colours” conference

🌈  Tastes and colours

For this new event, we wanted to tackle a highly divisive subject that sparks endless debate: tastes and colours.

Since it seems that “there’s no arguing with it” (“each to his own”) and we have a strong taste for colours, we thought, “Why not?’”. In reality, we mainly wanted to give a voice to three speakers whose unique perspectives on colour – from the fields of light science, culinary design and literature – could enrich our understanding of the sensory realities that we manipulate, choose, arrange and discuss on a daily basis in our diverse design practices and professions.

An event organised and prepared in collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Joatton and Emmanuelle VALLI.

Mathieu Hébert

Science led the way, through Mathieu Hébert, Professor at the Institut d’Optique Graduate School and Jean Monnet University, a specialist in light and appearances.

Emmanuelle Valli

Emmanuelle VALLI, semiologist and architext, offered a literary intervention on ‘De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum’. Not a spell from Harry Potter, but a Latin phrase that means ‘there is no disputing tastes and colours’…

From Black Mirror to Little Red Riding Hood, from the green of jealousy to the red of shame, we navigate between everyday language, symbolism and artistic references. Behind the humour lies a genuine reflection: are our aesthetic preferences truly personal… or are they conditioned?

You can find the content of her talk on her blog.

Anaïs Silvestro

Then, Anaïs Silvestro talked about her approach to culinary design, before offering an edible extension of her presentation through a taste and colour experience that plays on sensory appearances.

A few images…

Above: Jonas and Mathéo filming the event.