How Many Colours Are There In The World?

10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%...

Last year, I visited my local bookstore for a chance to revive myself from the mundane routine that is my 28 year old capitalism life. Because what better place to visit than a bookstore, wrong? And sure enough, I found a book filled with colours that could literally and figuratively “add colours” to my life.

NO MAGIC IN RISO
By Taipei Design House ODOTOO.COM
H180 mm x 110mm x 27mm
Extent: 15 colors risograph printing, foil stamping
360pages + 10 sheets of tritone color chart (inserts)

LIMITED EDITION OF 1000

Images from odotoo.com

Risograph printing was invented by Noboru Hayama (founder of Riso Kagaku Corporation). The Risograph 007 printer was first released in Japan, August 1986. Due to the fact that it can only print one colour at a time, it is seen as a cross breed between screen printing and photocopying.

Image from risolvestudio.com

I worked with Risograph printing once when I was in university. The colours I worked with were Red & Black. It was for a school project and in that year, a relatively new risograph printing studio just came about and I was hungry to get a taste of it. I remember having to visit their then studio (2015? 2016?), which was located in a really old condominium that my friend and I travelled really far to get to. It was a cozy one, the space was warm and sombre, with colourful posters plastered all over the walls. There were print rollers stacked one on top of the other, and it was kind of like a 2000s indie film featuring independent artists trying to make it from their bedroom. The experience was unclose and personal too, an intimacy I appreciate.

Risograph printing machine
Image from themakebank.org.uk

This was before I became a graphic designer and worked even more closely with regular CMYK/PANTONE printing. But risograph has always peaked my interest. For one, the colours were way more vibrant than usual. And the way the colour separation was done really came off to me as a craft of its own.

Images from odotoo.com

This guidebook is probably the only- could be wrong- extensive guide there is out there about Risograph printing. Pages of experiments and colour separations, all coded and captioned for one’s learning. I was intrigued by the amount of work that went into it. The papers, they were not spared. The book is soft, thick and fits nicely into one’s hands. There were charts of colours so much so that even if you weren’t into printing at all, the mere vibrancy of it will definitely leave you curious.

My edition is sold out. However the new edition is still available for purchase here.

Have a colourful week ahead everyone.