SILLE KROYER KOPPEL

We have asked three creatives outside the comfortable realm of our own industry what creativity is and how inspiration occurs – and about the essential components in their work as well as ours: colour, shape and material. 

THE ESSENCE OF CREATIVITY

At the age of eight, graphic designer Sille Kroyer Koppel discovered the world of modern art during a visit to the Danish Louisiana museum. Since then, a bold and imaginative use of colour has been a guiding principle in both her taste in art, her own work and her beautiful private residence in Copenhagen.

What is your first memory of colour?

I was eight years old when our next-door neighbour invited me on a trip to the renowned Louisiana Museum of Modern Art north of Copenhagen. I didn’t exactly get why we were going there and what I was about to experience, so I just tagged along. It was my first introduction to modern art, and I was completely overwhelmed. A whole new world was opened to me. I could not put my feelings into words – I was only a very young girl, after all. However, it had a profound impact on me. Kids use their senses in a very unfiltered way, and maybe that’s the reason why it really affected me. There is no intellectual reasoning or academic analysis when a child encounters a work of art – only pure intuition and surrendering to the human senses. And there I was – taking a dive into a brand new world of shape and colour and of course the whole atmosphere of the place. I remember that I bought three postcards home with me as souvenirs – works of Andy Warhol, Chagall, and Sam Francis. From there, my passion for art and for drawing, painting and expressing myself creatively developed.

How do you use colour in your work?

Colour plays a huge part in my work. It is always an element that I work with very carefully and very consciously. When you get the chance to use lots of colour, the magic occurs when you let them play together or when one colour seems to either emphasise or eliminate others. The choice of colour is often the determining factor and sets the mood and gives the direction for any given project. It’s all about choosing the right one depending on the effect you wish to achieve – confirmation, friction, uniformity, edge or something else.

What inspires you the most?

Every time someone has worked deliberately and skilfully with colour, shape or composition, regardless of the media or the context. That never ceases to fascinate and inspire me. Inspiration also comes in abundance from nature, furniture design, architecture, ceramics, fashion, and when I go to the museum or travel.  

In your view, who has the most interesting use of colour?

The work of Mark Rothko has always fascinated me and inspired me greatly. His art is always marked by a special poetic atmosphere due to his use of colour. He can work with a colour so it is no longer just a colour, but also something very sensitive and ambiguous and emotionally touching. He makes the colours in his work interdependent, and his special ways of combining them and letting them blend is quite extraordinary.

What is your favourite colour?

I couldn’t live without dark blue, and there are so many shades and variations to choose from. They all have the same depth, serenity and ease – yet they are both poetic and reliable. Dark blue can be used for numerous purposes, and it can both be the hero and the perfect sidekick to another colour. It can act as the backdrop to other colours that you would like to shine, and I often prefer dark blue to black when I look for a softer look. But apart from this special love affair with blue, I like all colours, actually. The only colour that I never use is lime – to me, it’s fitting only for the fruit!