Indulge your senses at Color Factory
Bringing the joy of colour into the world has taken on a whole new meaning at the Color Factory USA. “Interactive exhibits create a unique kind of museum experience, inspiring joy, fostering uninhibited play, and offering fantastical moments that we rarely experience in our daily lives.”
After following the Color Factory’s Instagram page for a few years, I felt compelled to visit their vivid New York venue. Backed by colour theory research into the physiological and emotional impact of colour on our feelings and senses, the Color Factory boasts over a dozen immersive installations that indulge you to play and engage in unexpected ways through music, drawing, eating, quizzes, dancing, spinning, and photography.
The look of colour
As you walk through the Color Factory entrance to reception, past Emmanuelle Moureaux’s paper strip installation, every wall, ceiling, floor and door is awash in colour combinations and patterns that heighten your senses and brighten your mood. It is like visiting the adult version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, where the surfaces and structures invite you to touch, taste, smell, feel, look and listen. One of my favourite visuals was the RGB room where the walls changed from blue to red to green, revealing a variety of designs based on New York’s dynamic scenery — an artful tribute to the city and an captivating way to display how our eyes view colour.
The taste of colour
Priding itself on innovation, the Color Factory brings food to the forefront in a variety of activations, such as a moving macaron conveyor belt, bowls and jars of toffies, and cute treats* near the exit of each colour zone. In one of the quiz rooms, a series of questions leads you to a highly personalised answer that determines which flavour treat you will receive. Time and time again, I felt like I was inside a maze of curiosities that was curated just for me.
The sound of colour
Gongs, xylophones, props and murals invite you to explore how colour sounds by listening to music, playing with instruments, and considering word representation. Muralist, Lakwena, painted sound-related quotes on the walls in bold colour combinations, providing a dynamic backdrop to a cadence of xylophones that chimed various notes of a scale. Immediately your senses of sight, sound and touch are engaged. I left the room feeling I had returned to my childhood playing piano scales, but with a new level of excitement for music.
The feeling of colour
How do different colours make you feel? Artist, Andrew Kuo, has created a means to explain and express the feelings around colour in his room of spinning pie charts. Visitors are invited to delve into how they feel, then lie on one of the large acrylic pie charts that best represents those feelings, and snap a photo to capture the moment.
Feeling joyful about my first day in New York, I chose the rainbow wheel. Pressing the activation button, I received a ticket and lay down on the wheel. Within seconds, the overhead camera flashed! I had the option to take additional shots but decided to throw caution to the wind, and checked my inbox later to see the result. One of my favourite mementos from NYC is that photograph, which I cropped to be the profile photo on my website and socials.
The smell of colour
The team that designed the Color Factory’s olfactory room must have had so much fun devising the names and scents that feature across the walls of the vividly painted walls. Word play takes centre stage with names like, Kind of a big dill to represent the smell of pickles, and Under my umbrella-ella-ella which smells exactly like rain! Inside each wall sconce, a filter embedded with the scent softly blows onto your face. You get the feeling of being close to nature and food, experiencing scents like freshly mown grass, the seaside, peanut butter, and strawberry shortcake.
Events
Color Factory has venues in NYC, Chicago and Houston, with dedicated event teams who craft unforgettably bespoke events such as birthday parties, field trips and corporate gatherings. Choose from an array of theming and food options to create a highly personalised, memorable outing. Contact the Color Factory events team.
Image by the Color Factory
Gift shop
At the end of my Color Factory journey, I was excited to visit the gift shop. Filled with colourful stationery, jewellery, hats, tees, food items, key rings and more, there are gifts for every age group and price point, from $2 stickers up to $60 research books focused on the psychology of colour theory.
Color Factory has something for everyone. Art enthusiasts, seasoned museum-goers, students, parents, people who have a favourite colour, people who don’t, and those who wear head-to-toe black will find meaning and joy within Color Factory’s walls. Book your tickets here.
Purchases from the gift shop included a rainbow bracelet, key ring, and chocolate squares.
