The Chromologist

Latest Episodes:

The Chromologist: Julius Roberts Nov 04, 2024

Patrick O’Donnell takes a trip to Dorset to meet first generation farmer, cook and author of The Farm Table — Julius Roberts. Together they take a tour of the farm and Julius describes the deep yellow of a childhood spent digging in the garden, raising baby rabbits and watching his grandmother whisk up delicious family meals. He also reflects on the Bamboozle red of a youth spent working long hours in hot, demanding kitchens as a restaurant chef and on the Pea Green of his defining decade when he bought some pigs and started a farm.

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The Chromologist: Sheila Bridges Oct 28, 2024

Interior designer Sheila Bridges, also known as Harlem Toile Girl, talks to Patrick O’Donnell from her home in the Hudson Valley. She describes her fascination with toile de jouy printed fabrics and how she decided to create her own toile, depicting scenes from African American life. Together they explore the pink patterned wallpaper of Sheila’s childhood bedroom, the Oval Room Blue of her defining decade when she started to embrace bold colours, and the soothing grey-lilac of the now, which she describes as soft and calm.

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The Chromologist: Sarah Winman Oct 21, 2024

Author of international best-selling novels ‘When God was a Rabbit’ and ‘Still Life’, Sarah Winman invites Patrick O’Donnell into her flat in London. Together they muse on the vibrant green of childhood football matches on newly cut grass, the deep blue of the mediterranean sea she loved in her youth and the soulful grey of her defining decade, moving to London and coming out as a gay woman.

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The Chromologist: Tony Liu Oct 14, 2024

Tony Liu, entrepreneur and co-founder of cutting edge Instagram account Diet Prada which critiques fashion, pop culture, and current events talks with Patrick O’Donnell from New York. Together they discuss the huge influence of the PRADA colour palette on Tony’s life and work. Tony also recalls his first suit in grey at the age of just four and what it symbolised, his passion for green which he associates with a moment of acute shyness during a school photo shoot and his love of pastel colours and the Impressionist painters.

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Momtaz Begum-Hossain Oct 10, 2024

In this special episode to mark World Mental Health Day, Patrick O’Donnell talks to colour therapist and writer Momtaz Begum-Hossain about the way colour has transformed her life and the way she uses it to support and empower others. She describes the joy of the beautiful droplets of pistachio green food colouring she used to make peppermint creams at school and the balm of re-discovering citron yellow during the pandemic. And she gives Patrick a few colour tips for bringing greater well-being into daily life too. She says, ‘Colour is an instant mood-booster. It can guide decision making and inspire our creativity. If you really welcome it in you can experience it’s full sensory potential.’

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You can find the transcript to this episode here : https://www.farrow-ball.com/the-chromologist/episode-thirteen-momtaz-begum-hossain

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The Chromologist: Alyssa Nitchun Sep 30, 2024

Alyssa Nitchun, Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of art in New York, talks to Patrick O’Donnell about the colours of her life from her New York apartment. She shares tales of her candyfloss pink childhood passion for dressing up, her pitch black youth as a goth and she describes the bright red of her defining decade as a queer DJ and advocate for queer art and expression. She says, ‘I chose red for my defining decade because I think I was hungry for everything. But right now my colour is arsenic green because I’m in a time where I’m kind of harnessing that energy.’

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The Chromologist: Christine Van Der Hurd Sep 23, 2024

Textile designer Christine Van Der Hurd invites Patrick O’Donnell into her home in London’s Notting Hill Gate. For more than three decades Christine has been designing for textile collections with Cappellini, Liberty London and Louis Vuitton among others as well as museums including the V &A in London. She describes the deep aubergine of her early childhood growing up surrounded by her father’s antique collections and the bright zingy yellow of her lofty New York years and she unpicks why she’s developed a love for the many shades of white.

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Sean Anthony Pritchard Sep 16, 2024

Gardener and landscape designer Sean Anthony Pritchard takes Patrick O’Donnell through his garden gate and into his Somerset cottage in the Mendip Hills. From the crimson red of his grandfather’s sweet peas, to the green of his years travelling the London underground on the district line, he shares colours that connect the different chapters of his life. And he takes Paddy into his glorious rose garden to show him the blush apricot rose petals he makes potpourri with.

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Michelle Dockery Sep 12, 2024

Actress Michelle Dockery is best known for starring as the brilliant and brutally honest Lady Mary Crawley in the TV series Downton Abbey, for which she’s won a number of awards. In this first episode of a new series of The Chromologist she invites Patrick O’Donnell into her London home to talk about the colours which have shaped her life. Together they discuss the deep green of her indie youth, the fiery red of her Downton Abbey decade and the rich blue of her life now and her emergence more recently as a singer. ‘The last few years I’ve really fallen in love with blue and particularly Inchyra blue,’ she says ‘I find it a really calming colour and I think it reminds me of some of the amazing places I’ve filmed in over the years – those beautiful old estates.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Glyn Fussell Jun 17, 2024

Glyn Fussell, activist and creative who describes himself as ‘the party starter who changed the scene forever’ invites Patrick O’Donnell into his newly painted Essex home deep in Epping forest. Glyn is the wild mind behind the trailblazing queer party Sink the Pink and the co-creator of one of the UK’s biggest pop music festivals, Mighty Hoopla. This special conversation marks PRIDE month and Farrow & Ball have been lucky enough to collaborate with Glyn on their ‘Paint with PRIDE’ project which celebrates the positive power of colour and light. Together with Patrick, Glyn shares the colours of his life from the deep velvet brown of his childhood growing up in Bristol to the sky blue of his coming out in Perth, Australia and the bright pink of the decade that followed. ‘I’ve always been a dreamer’, he says ‘and my dreams have always been bright and multicoloured.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Lucinda Chambers Apr 15, 2024

Lucinda Chambers is one of fashion’s most influential figures. She’s former director for Vogue and the founder of boutique online retail outlets Collagerie and Colville. In this episode, she invites Patrick into her West London home to share her life in colour – from the coral of her mother’s creativity and her childhood homes to the traditional deep blue of French workwear, which for her symbolises summer, freedom and play. ‘I think a lot of people are terrified of colour. But I always say start with creeping colour. A pop of lipstick, or green eye shadow, or some amazing lilac earrings.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

See the colours of Lucinda's life here

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The Chromologist: Eric Underwood Apr 08, 2024

Former Royal Ballet dancer and model, Eric Underwood, welcomes Patrick into the rambling Chiltern farmhouse he’s recently moved to. In the cosiness of Eric’s library snug they talk about his deep bond with his mother which he likens to the expansive blue of the colour Borrowed Light, about his childhood growing up in Washington D.C as a gifted dancer and about his experiences as one of the few professional black ballet dancers. Eric also tells the story of how he came to create ballet shoes for people of colour. ‘The colour of "ballet white" I’ve always seen as quite challenging if you aren’t white. I wanted to change that.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

See the colours of Eric's life here

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The Chromologist: Skye Gyngell Apr 01, 2024

Australian, Michelin-starred chef and former food editor for Vogue, Skye Gyngell, invites Patrick into her beautiful restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House in London. Together they savour the story of Skye’s upbringing through her choice of deep, dark greens and bright, bold yellows. She says: ‘If you’ve grown up in a country like Australia, the majesty of nature is so huge, the skies are so vast, the seas are so strong, the earth is so red, it gets into your DNA.’ Skye also describes her passion for soft pink, which is the colour of Spring restaurant and of where she feels her life is now. ‘A lot of my life has been about trying to define who I am. I really wanted Spring to feel female, delicate and soft and to celebrate that it’s a restaurant headed up by a woman.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Christopher John Rogers Mar 25, 2024

American fashion designer and luminary Christopher John Rogers talks to Patrick about the colours of his life, from his studio in Manhattan. Christopher recently collaborated with Farrow & Ball on the Carte Blanche collection - a capsule collection of paint and paper inspired by childhood memories of food and family. In this conversation he shares four colours from that collection. From the rich shallot pink of his early childhood in Louisiana, which makes him think of his mother’s wedding day, to the colour of his life right now which he sees as the rich brown of Cardamom. ‘For me this earth colour is enveloping and sexy and sophisticated and I feel it’s about me being more centred and more grounded in my life.’

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Cerys Matthews Mar 18, 2024

Singer, author and broadcaster Cerys Matthews brings Patrick into her River home in this special episode of The Chromologist. It’s a joyous first meeting and the two discover they share a great love of mud colours, conch shells and the rich greens of the Welsh countryside. Cerys also shares the deep red colour of her Catatonia years. ‘It was a wide old word. A fiery red is always what I think about when I think of my youth,’ she says, ‘And dark saturated red was also the colour of the St Fagan museum in Cardiff where I used to go for comfort in those years.’ Cerys also shares her passion for the writing of Dylan Thomas and she gives Patrick a special narration of Under Milk Wood.

Learn about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Kassia St Clair Mar 11, 2024

Colour historian and author of The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St Clair, leads Patrick through her pink front door to share her lifetime love of colour. From the beige her father was obsessed with to the bright pink of her mother’s florist shop, she shares colours that connect the different chapters of her life. She also offers up some of her own fascinating colour tales, including the extraordinary story of mummy brown. At her request, Patrick also offers ideas for her yet-to-be decorated family home.

Learn more about the colours featured in each episode here

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The Chromologist: Tan France Mar 11, 2024

Queer Eye TV show star and fashion guru, Tan France, offers Patrick a glimpse of his Utah home, which he shares with his husband Rob and two young children. Together they explore the colours that have shaped Tan over his lifetime, from the bright red of his cousin’s wedding dress to the rich greens of the mountains he looks onto each morning over a noisy family breakfast in Utah. ‘I live in colour’ he says, ‘I’ve always embraced it and I love to wear it.’ He also takes Patrick on a mini tour of his shimmering blue wardrobe.

Learn more about the colours featured in each episode here

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See Tan and Rob's Utah home on Architectural Digest here

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The Chromologist: Mary Portas Mar 11, 2024

Mary Portas, creative trailblazer and retail revolutionary, invites Patrick O’Donnell into her London home to talk about the colours that have guided her through her life. ‘The world is colourful’ she says, ‘I always see my life in colour’. Together they delve into the way colours open a door onto chapters of our lives. ‘Orange has always been a great friend to me - through my hair, my fashion, my business - it’s a very powerful sensual colour.’ Mary also shares her penchant for matching the colour of her specs to different coloured rooms in her home. ‘I wear pink in my living room and neutral in my bedroom’, she says. And Patrick gets a peek into Mary’s glorious bright orange powder room.

Learn more about the colours featured in each episode here

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Find the We Are Portas website here

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The Chromologist: Preview Mar 09, 2024

If you had to choose four key colours that have shaped your life, what would they be? Colour expert for Farrow & Ball, Patrick O’Donnell, explores how colour works in our homes but also how it works in our heads, our hearts, our identities. He joins creatives, designers and performers who reveal their stories through colour, guided by the Farrow and Ball colour chart. Guests include Mary Portas, Tan France and Cerys Matthews.

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