Life In Colour: Author Kelee Katillac On Attracting Happiness
The author of Historic Style: Honoring the Past with Design for Today demonstrates the power of palettes as medicine for the soul
Colour is a spiritual tool that can align our homes with health and happiness. My life’s work has been the study and practice of manifestation for my interior design clients, helping them create what they need most. How? Through the conscious use of colour, history, architecture, couture details and bespoke furnishings to tell their story. At best, our homes serve as a mirror, reflecting our inner-selves and spirit. Interior design is a metaphysical process that uses our creativity to manifest our dreams.
In the book Historic Style, one chapter focuses on my design atelier, Baltimore Place. Seeking empowerment as a woman and designer, I found inspiration in the French 18th -century Age of Enlightenment when neoclassical symbols celebrating women, orderly structures and new scientific codes emerged. At that time in history, science advanced colour theory and white light came to be understood as simply all colours combined. Other ancient traditions connect ‘the light of the world ’ with divine knowledge and oneness. So specific colours, as components of white light, can be used holistically to help us. Through colour meditation, a design plan was formed for my own meaningful colour scheme.
“All of us can benefit from light and colour in our personal sanctuary”
Kelee Katillac
The palette for my space came from rocks, crystals and gemstones as they add a layer of energetic help and wellness. The entry foyer is swathed in a sulphurous yellow, symbolising positivity and clearing negative energy from the space. In the salon room, that yellow mixes with blue chalcedony, which invokes peace and safety and a sense of home. Rose quartz, with its connotations of love and affection, dominates the dining room, while aquamarine, a gemstone that exudes a sense of flow and good communication, adorns the bedroom.
Some clients have a real fear of colour. Ironically, if you are afraid of colour or if it overwhelms you, you may be one of the spiritually sensitive beings that it can help the most. In this case, white is the foundation upon which we build. Then, I add colour like a creative medicine, in small doses. All of us can benefit from light and colour in our personal sanctuary. Becoming in-tune with inspiring tones for your own design project can start with simple colour meditations.
“Ironically, if you are afraid of colour or if it overwhelms you, you may be one of the spiritually sensitive beings that it can help the most”
Kelee Katillac
Try It For Yourself:
Sit comfortably and quietly in a room with good natural light. Focus on a white ray of light entering through the window and let it flow into your body. Pulse the bright light into your cells and ask your body to imprint the divine wellness of the light. Then, ask your spirit what colour it needs today. Now – importantly – do not think or pick out a colour . A colour will pop into your mind as a word or vision , or as an object like a gemstone. Take the first colour that comes to you. Picture it as if it were from stained glass, glowing with light , and breathe it into your body. You will feel a little better. I promise!
Images from Historic Style: Honoring The Past With Design For Today book
From Harpers Bazaar Arabia’s Culture/Interiors Summer 2024 issue