Quadrifolium: A Compendium of Colour in Four Leaves

Colour is not theory. Colour is lived. This is a collection of colour combinations from the last few years that I found absolutely mesmerising. Walking through cities, getting lost in the infinite worlds of films and series, standing in rain, sitting on trains, looking at walls, skies, food, clothes, the universe, light. All of it shaped how I see colour and the magic that happens when certain colours sit together. I started paying close attention to colour in 2016, during a trip to Japan. Japan showed me that colour is something you can study the way you study a language or a craft. Ever since, I focus on how colour comes to life in my photographs, even when taken with just a mobile phone. Not only places, but also craftsmanship and materials that sparked curiosity in my mind. From the weathered limestone of an Egyptian temple in the last hour of sunlight, to a single frame of a film that made me reach for my phone without thinking. The cameras in the latest mobile phones are exceptional, and you can use them in the same way. I challenge you to find the colours I listed in this book in your own surroundings and in your own photographs. Over the years I discovered how much of what we see every day has never been named, and how difficult it is to work without clear references. I will use this book myself, since it is a very handy companion in whatever creative paths I walk. It would be selfish to keep it for myself, no? I hope you will get as much joy out of it as I do. Quadrifolium presents 365 colour combinations, each built from four CMYK values and translated into RGB and HEX for digital use. Not everyone can travel the world to see colour in person, and not every day allows for that. But with this book in your hands, you can turn one page each morning and let a new combination enter your day. 365 combinations. 365 days. One year of seeing differently. At the heart of each page composition sits a quadrifolium: a four-leaf clover drawn from the mathematical rose curve r = cos(2θ), each petal carrying one colour of the combination with a point of light and a point of shadow, as all colour must. The balance wheel of existence; dark and light empowering reality and keeping each other in check. This book is meant to be used. Photograph a page and hand it to your printer. Or tear it out and pin it to your studio wall. Bring it to a client meeting. Leave it open on your desk while you renovate your kitchen. For designers, jewellers, architects, typographers, fashion makers, illustrators, game developers, interior stylists, filmmakers, product designers, craftsmen, new homeowners choosing their first wall colours, renters looking to transform a space on a budget, and anyone who has ever wanted to create something beautiful but did not know where to start with colour. First Edition. Proudly published by Le Royalties Sergio Melicio.