Milan 2016: Dutch designer Hella Jongerius has arranged pieces of Vitra furniture by shade to create a rainbow-hued installation displaying the brand's colour and material library (+ slideshow).

Jongerius designed the Colour Machine installation for the temporary CasaVitra location on Milan's Corso Como, with the aim of bringing the company's archive of colours and materials to life.

"The concept of the Vitra Colour & Material Library starts with organising all colours in four contrasting colour worlds: the reds, the lights, the greens and the darks," said Jongerius, who has been Vitra's art director for colours and materials since 2008.

"The library is like a living and growing organism ? no colour is static, everything is open to change," she continued. "The internal structure of the colour wheels keeps many options open." Four giant spinning tops twirling on the floor were used to present the full range of the Swiss brand's materials in four categories: light colours, dark colours, greens and reds.

Nine revolving colour wheels suspended above the space were each made from parts of contemporary and classic Vitra furniture pieces, including the base of the EM Table by French architect Jean Prouvé or the Plastic Chair by designers Charles and Ray Eames.
Jongerius' installation is the result of a long-term project in collaboration with the Swiss company aiming to study the properties and possibilities of the colours, textures, finishes...