Oatmeal, Color, and Sanzo Wada

I eat oatmeal every day for lunch. I ride intervals on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I (almost) always sit in the same spot on the couch.

In life, many things are on repeat. And that can be awesome. Structures can support just as often as confine. Routine can open as quickly as constrict.

When it comes to my production mobiles, I routinely paint them in the same palettes year after year. And that’s fine as well. These palettes have their own histories, tell their own tales.

In the 1930s, Japan’s Sanzo Wada created a six-volume color study. In Haishoku Soukan (配色総監), Wada highlights traditional Japanese approaches to color, which differed significantly from Western ones.

In 2011, Seigensha - an independent Japanese publisher - published A Dictionary of Color Combinations with 348 of those Wada colorways. Not only is it a beautiful work of art, Wada sees colors in ways I would’ve never imagined. And that lit me up.

For me, color is breath. It is blood. Color is life and emotion. It’s both statement and invitation. And, as folks like @dawnraek and @lisacongdon have shown me, color can be a love language … if you know how to use the words correctly.

So the idea of stepping out of my routine and using 100-year-old colorways created half a world way – wow – what an opportunity!

In each listing, I’ve included a photo of the 3-color palette I selected + its reference number in the dictionary.

For Bushwillow, I use Molotow Autumn Leaf, Mouse Gray, Mustard Yellow, and Blue Gray Dark.

What’s one routine in your life that’s either serving you or keeping you from something even better?