Mexican Design Colors

Colorful, hand-painted Mexican pottery

The colors of Mexico are rich, vibrant and intrinsically linked to a strong heritage known for its art and architecture. The Mexican people design with colors direct from nature. Bright yellows, oranges, reds, blues and greens dominate their palettes. Bold use of color moves throughout many designs. These colorful schemes have been welcomed into other cultures found across North America, from California to Florida.

Walls

Painted walls in brilliant shades of turquoise, ochre, terra-cotta and green are common, as is using a different color for each room in a home. If a living room boasts the colors of a sunrise, then a bedroom may offer the solitude of ocean blues. Color is added to walls through paint techniques such as stucco; fresco and suede effects are prolific. Color-drenched murals and folk art textiles adorn interior walls.

Floors

Warm terra-cotta tiles offer a canvas for hand-woven wool rugs boasting intricate traditional Mexican and Mayan patterns and lively color combinations. Weavers create dye colors using a combination of minerals, insects and plants, such as the Indigo plant and the Cochineal bug. Natural colors from various types of sheep's wool are also used.

Furniture

Wood furniture made from mesquite and pine are painted with accent designs or overall color. Chairs for a single table can each be a different color such as colonial red, burnt ochre, indigo and pink. Tabletops are inlaid with geometric or mosaic hand-painted tile patterns in combinations of deep blue, bright gold and black. Talavera and Malibu tiles are popular and are joined together to create bold designs full of color. Black and rustic iron is used for beds, dining chairs and table bases.

Textiles

Brightly-woven mexican textile

According to Joe P. Carr and Karen Witynski Carr, authors of the book "Hacienda Style," Mexican textiles are reflective of the ancient, pre-Hispanic traditions of dyeing, spinning and weaving. Just as with extensive use of color in most Mexican design elements, textiles are no different. Brightly colored solid and patterned fabrics are often used in dramatic contrast to wall and furniture color.

Accents

Clay and hand-painted wooden figurines, earthy-toned and brightly glazed pottery, and pewter and silver crosses and frames are all seen throughout Mexican interiors. Black wrought iron accents, such as an ornate floor candelabra, add high contrast to a stark white or bright-hued wall.

Art

Famous Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Jose Clemente Orozco used an expansive color palette to create detailed murals and paintings of everyday life, landscapes and political scenes. Modern Mexican painters and artists still use a profusion of color in their paintings and drawings. Folk art such as painted masks, figurines, toys, pottery and lacquerware are prevalent throughout Mexican designs.

References

• Hacienda Style: Hacienda Color
• Mexconnect: Mexico Design & Style
• Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology: Mexican Folk Art

Resources

• Mexican Style: The Art of Hacienda