Beatrice Santiccioli: Specializing in Color

A visual designer discusses why Swatch, watercolors and cooking can inspire the design of color. Louise Sandhaus draws out how Beatrice Santiccioli came to be the Queen of Color.

Louise Sandhaus: What do you call yourself professionally? A colorist? Color designer? Or perhaps the "Queen of Color?"

Beatrice Santiccioli: [Laughing] I don’t refer to myself by any specific title. Sometimes I just use what I was called by my school—a visual designer. It’s a broad title that works better because I’m more than just a colorist; I also have a background in graphic design.

Sandhaus: How did you end up specializing in color?

Santiccioli: My first job was at a studio in Milan working for Adelaide Acerbi, the art director for the Italian furniture company Driade. It was very exciting because I had the opportunity to work on lots of different projects guided by this important mentor. She really taught me all about design. But in the end, it didn’t make me fall in love with this type of design, which was very traditional work. I wanted to learn more about the way in which the profession was practiced, but I didn’t know specifically what I wanted to do. All I knew at that time was that I wanted to stay in Milan because it was a strong place for design.

Sandhaus: So then when what happened?

Santiccioli: I started doing graphics and color for products more and more. My big break came when I started working with Swatch.

Sandhaus: What was it about your work for Swatch that became so important to the work you do now?

Santiccioli: Because the watch designs changed every six months, we had to be on our toes with new colors, new graphics, new styles. For Swatch we had to tell stories in a small space, so graphics and color were the clearest and most direct way to do that. I enjoyed having to constantly come up with new ideas and fresh directions.

Sandhaus: That sounds like a lot of pressure. Was it difficult?

Santiccioli: It meant constant research, which was great because sometimes when you enter the professional world after school you find yourself focused more on producing. You miss having time for learning and research. My experience at Swatch was exceptional because of having to constantly develop new ideas. And as part of my job I had the opportunity to travel and to see things.

Sandhaus: Your work with Swatch seems as if it was significant for your personal development, not just your professional growth.

Santiccioli: That’s when I started doing my journals. During my travels, they became a way of life. Now, wherever I go, my travel books come with me, so that when I see things that I like, I can make drawings or write about them. These journals are also about people—anyone or anything that could be important for me, or that’s new and impresses me.

Sandhaus: How did these experiences lead to your becoming an expert in color? Santiccioli: I didn’t really choose to become a color specialist. It revealed itself in my work when I moved to San Francisco. I was showing my work around, and it was the people I met with who saw the potential that I had.

Sandhaus: Can you give an example?

Santiccioli: The first project I did in the United States was with a studio working on a line of eyeglasses for Nike. They saw my capability for working with color, so they had me collaborate with their design team. It was great! After that, Nike hired me directly as a consultant on color for more projects.

”Instead of approaching the project with ‘I don’t know,’ I begin with an appreciation for the situation, which I see as a possibility for evolution.”

Sandhaus: I read that there are 2,000 designers who specialize in color. Do you think that’s true?

Santiccioli: I don’t know. I have no idea how many of us there are, but I don’t think it’s a lot. It doesn’t feel as if there’s that much competition.

Sandhaus: Are there schools that offer specialized study in color design?

Santiccioli: It’s quite a new field. I don’t believe that there is a program or a course that offers this kind of study. When you do this kind of job, you need a very broad education because you have to understand and think about so many things. It’s a balance between, on the one hand, technical knowledge, such as color theory, chemistry, working with different materials, as well as perceptual theory and understanding the meanings colors have in different cultures, and, on the other hand, following your intuition.

Sandhaus: It sounds like a balance of science and art.

Santiccioli: Yes. You need to use different kinds of knowledge and experience. You have to know when to use your own intuition to create something that’s not crazy, but outstanding and different.

Sandhaus: One of the aspects of your work that seems particularly enticing is that color resides in different materials, like plastics, paints, textiles, and in the case of the Esse project, paper. Your work involves not just color qua color but tactility and finish as well. How sensuous!

Santiccioli: When I started working with color, it was only for plastics and textiles. Now, because the technology of materials is changing so fast, I need to gain knowledge and experience quickly. Sometimes new materials are actually driving projects.

Sandhaus: So what do you do in these situations? It sounds scary to be an expert without expertise.

Santiccioli: I try to investigate and learn as much as I can, quickly. But that’s why I really like my work—because it’s a source of continuous learning.

Sandhaus: But sometimes you lack the experience of knowing a material and how it behaves and what you can do with it.

Santiccioli: I try to think about it in a different way. Instead of approaching the project with “I don’t know,” I begin with an appreciation for the situation, which I see as a possibility for evolution.

Sandhaus: There’s a lot of “you” and who you are in this process. It’s about your eye and your instincts and your intuition—how you see things. To understand your work, it seems important to know more about you personally. Can you tell me about your life?

Santiccioli: I grew up in a small town outside Florence in the surrounding hills. My parents owned the only modern furniture store at the time in Florence, which they started in the late 1950s. Because of their involvement in design, there were always fascinating people—artists and designers—around the house and many interesting and stimulating conversations.

Sandhaus: It sounds like a remarkable situation. So then why did you leave Tuscany and go to Milan?

Santiccioli: I got my high school education at the Art Institute of Florence. After school, I liked to walk through the streets of Florence and also to go to look at paintings and galleries. I developed a big love for art, so big that at one point Florence became too small for me and, as soon as I finished high school, I had to leave. Knowing that I wanted to study design, a family friend, Adelaide Acerbi—who, as I mentioned earlier, became my first employer as well as my mentor—suggested a school of visual arts in Milan, the Polytechnic School of Design. In the early 1980s this was a pioneering school, as there were very few institutions offering studies in visual design and communications design.

Sandhaus: You studied with some very important people there: Bruno Munari and Augusto Garau. What did you learn from them?

Santiccioli: Garau was my teacher of color and psychology of form. During his class, we worked on huge square tables painting with gouache. We did exercises based on color and form theory that investigated the different balances between colors. Other exercises dealt with the relationship between colors and the energy of different shapes. Most significantly, I learned how to mix colors from the primaries, which gave me the understanding of how to create my own hues.

Sandhaus: And what about the legendary designer, Bruno Munari?

Santiccioli: What I learned from Munari was more personal. He would talk about his work and travels and would show photos and objects. These inspired me, but it took years of work and dedication to my own projects for me realize that my view of life and work was deeply touched by his.

Sandhaus: Did you like living in Milan?

Santiccioli: It was so stimulating! During the 1980s, Memphis and Ettore Sottsass were ruling the design world, and I had lots of friends working at Sottsass’s studio, so I was at the heart of all the activity of the moment. We would go to galleries, see shows, eat and drink—there was this intense thirst for learning and conversation. Being in Milan gave me the chance to grow up and become an adult.

Sandhaus: So then why did you move to the United States?

Santiccioli: After World War II, lots of American culture was circulating in Italy, and we were very influenced by it. For instance, movies like Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point came out during this period. So, like so many Italians of my generation, I was curious about the United States. My first trip here was in 1983, when I came to take a photography class in Rochester, New York. After the class finished, I spent a week each in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. It was then that I connected with this great American spirit.

Sandhaus: So the seed was planted for your move. What happened after this trip that propelled you toward the relocation?

Santiccioli: In the years that followed, I developed relationships with designers on the west coast. I started looking for the right opportunity to move and have my American experience.

Sandhaus: So when did you actually get to the States?

Santiccioli: In 1994 I finally moved to San Francisco. It’s a city that I love. It’s on a very human scale. It was here that I found a group of friends with whom I shared passions and interests. We shared a mind-set that was open, so there was an important exchange among us. It reminded me of the exciting life that I had with my family when I was growing up in Florence.

Sandhaus: What’s your life like now?

Santiccioli: I have a son, Dante, and a husband, Sam, and I still have my fantastic group of friends. I travel as much as possible. I spend a month in Italy twice a year. I also have good friends over there whom I like to see.

Sandhaus: Friends and travel seem to be very integral to your life.

Santiccioli: I am nourished by friendships. Friends are always a source of inspiration. The same goes for Milan. When I go there, I just walk the streets that I like. It’s a place of so much design. When I’m in Florence, I go to see my favorite paintings. All of this is a connection with my roots.

Sandhaus: You keep referring to things that excite you and that keep you alive, like friends and travel and the energy of different cities. You’re very aware of things. Are there particular types of things that catch your eye?

Santiccioli: Nature is always surprising and beautiful. At first you look at a green bush, but there are no flowers, so you might think that there is nothing to look at. But then many details begin to emerge—like the vein of a leaf or the way a branch turns. Sometimes I stop and look at things. I say to myself, let’s see what this is, what is here. It’s then that I slow down and try to get the beauty.

Sandhaus: Do you have the same experience with people?

Santiccioli: Sometimes I’ll ask a friend to show me something, to tell me the story of what she’s showing. It’s also very inspiring because I feel that I work better when I have a friend’s spirit.

Sandhaus: You seem to cultivate serenity.

Santiccioli: Well, it’s important because it is so easy to get hurt.

Sandhaus: How do you create situations for yourself that are so placid?

Santiccioli: There is not a recipe, but I try to remove everything that would upset me or distract me and put it in another part of my mind. I try to focus on something else.

Sandhaus: Have you always been like that?

Santiccioli: I dream a lot. [Laughing] In school they always told me that I had my head up in the clouds.

Sandhaus: Yeah. [Laughing]

Santiccioli: Which I think is funny, because I am very, very tall.

Sandhaus: Did you realize at a certain point in your life that you had to deal with things that were making you unhappy?

Santiccioli: I think we all learn in our own way. If you have the opportunity to learn and find a direction to a solution, you can deal with any situation. I think it comes from experience; it’s not that it comes easily.

Sandhaus: How does this philosophy apply to your working relationships? Sometimes working with others, especially under deadlines, can be quite stressful.

Santiccioli: I really respect everyone if we’re working as a team. I don’t like to feel that someone is trying to control the situation, trying to dominate other people. Then the work is affected.

Sandhaus: Is this a situation that happens often?

Santiccioli: No. It’s been great. And it has also really helped me to be a good person to work with.

Sandhaus: Reciprocity! [Laughing]

Santiccioli: [Laughing] Yeah, because if you are in a good environment, you cultivate all the good parts of yourself, which helps make it a good environment.

"Knowing nothing, I know everything.”

Sandhaus: I’d like to ask you about the project you just did for Gilbert Paper. Working with Rick Valicenti, you conceived the colors and finishes for a re-release of the Esse line. How did the process take place?

Santiccioli: When Kathy Kemps from Gilbert Paper and Rick Valicenti asked me to redesign the new Esse colors, they did not give me many restrictions at first. They wanted me to be open and explore different directions and color palettes.

Sandhaus: What did you explore?

Santiccioli: I created different palettes, imagining brighter, more intense colors—a different direction from what existed. I asked myself what could be a perfect color for a designer now, so I was looking for colors that would tell a story that made sense for today and yet would last about five years. Initially I developed several palettes that were influenced by the sources of inspiration around me—everything from various pink objects to pictures of landscapes.

Sandhaus: What was the response to your first presentation?

Santiccioli: We had our first review in my San Francisco studio. It was then that a specific direction surfaced. They told me more about what they were looking for, and I adjusted the hues accordingly. This was a very important phase for the project because it was that day when the Esse collection really began to take shape.

Sandhaus: Were there any compromises that you found difficult?

Santiccioli: Obviously it was hard for me to let go of some of the colors that I had initially suggested. These were colors that I loved from the moment I made them. But inevitably this is part of the process of creating the perfect color palette, one in which balance, harmony and contrast interact dynamically among the hues.

Sandhaus: What’s your process like? How did you make the studies for these colors?

Santiccioli: I love to mix my own colors. I use Dr. Martin’s dyes in water or gouaches to make color swatches, or I crush pigments, mix them with water or other substances, and then paint them on paper.

Sandhaus: What are your sources or inspirations for your color ideas?

Santiccioli: I use any source. Sometimes my color swatches come from art books; it’s very bad, but sometimes I cut bits of color from books.

Sandhaus: Do you have some way of collecting and recording colors that you notice around you?

Santiccioli: Sometimes I travel with my watercolors. I also collect things on my travels. Seeing something that I like and that inspires me can get me off to a good start on a project.

Sandhaus: Do you know about “synesthesia?” It’s a phenomenon in which senses are transposed. For instance, colors evoke a taste or a certain sound. For me there are many colors that I want to eat.

Santiccioli: Yes, definitely. Some colors inspire me to touch them or taste them.

Sandhaus: Is that why you like to cook? [Laughing]

Santiccioli: I like to cook because I like to eat well.

Sandhaus: Does good food feel like beautiful color in your mouth?

Santiccioli: Probably.

Sandhaus: Your life seems to be so much about a kind of beauty and aesthetics that are both internal and external. What is it that connects the peace that you try in find in your life to your life as a designer? What do you feel that your work and your life are about?

Santiccioli: It’s joy. It’s about wonder and surprise. Knowing nothing, I know everything.

Sandhaus: I think that you have the best job in the world.

Santiccioli: Thank you.