Bodies In Blue
Cleaning out the garage to make space for making my art, I came across some old prints and it lead me to this week’s article.
Blue carpet, royal blue and various fading variations of it was, and still is, everywhere in allied health clinics.
It figures; it says clinical, authoritative, regal, and probably hides dirt well. Allied health spaces have high foot traffic so, you’ve gotta be sensible with your carpet color choice, right?
Over the years, with the spaces I leased for Pilates studios and had a say over the flooring, I covered them all in cream carpet! Ridiculous for a commercial space but hear me out…
In one memorable space, perched up above a health food shop, two sets of french doors opened onto the main street of a coastal suburb in Sydney. Wrought iron faux balconies hung with geranium pots complete with top knot pigeons nesting amongst the leaves. So sweet.
There, the blue carpet I ripped up and replaced with cream, was totally worth it;
was gorgeous against the Dulux “Berkshire White” walls I furiously painted
was clean and crisp against the powerful Pilates equipment laid out in the space
was just so with the subtle plant and wood desk
As tiring as the upkeep of the cream carpet was, (I fastidiously vacuumed and upheld a strict ‘no shoes” policy. Are you tired just reading this?) it was worth it.
But I didn’t clock the value of the not-blue carpet at the time. Until…
Taking up an opportunity to be in collaboration with one of Sydney’s top physiotherapists, I moved out of quiantville and into their practice a suburb away. There I squeezed my equipment into a tiny space with 80’s rendered brick walls, ugly black benches and blue carpet. All of this juxtaposed with the incense this physio burned throughout the clinic. It was an aesthetic mismatch, to say the least.
My clients loyally attended the new space but wondered, why did I move here?
Later, there was a huge space I leased within a newly set up physio practice - a converted concrete car park basement looking for a Pilates teacher to come in and rent it. It had so much potential, I thought. Several weeks later, already committed to moving in, I returned to find the whole hundred-plus square meter footage carpeted in blue.
Potential for the decoration of the space was drowned in a sea of blue carpet - clinical, stuffy, basement-like. It was more hospital foyer vibes, than a calm space for my clients to physically express themselves through Pilates.
Without losing heart, I came up with a solution - run with the blue (my colour consultant mum helped out, too).
I ordered Matisse’s Blue Nudes as a series of foam-backed posters I hung along the expanse of one wall.
I chose equipment with a contrasting tan coloured upholstery and I painted the back wall a terracotta orange to warm the place up.
To top is off, as there was no natural light, I placed the funkiest, fake potted palms (Yuccas) to sit along the back terracotta wall. Now, hopefully, my clients could be transported to an oasis (think New Mexico chic).
Finally, the blue carpet “worked” you could say. For a time.
But, there’s something about the intention of the landlord that seeps through a space. This landlord was not on the same page with me professionally, values wise, or aesthetically. So, the space, although it worked, didn’t sing. It wasn’t supportive somehow. Even with the energy of those blue nudes.
I mention those Matisse prints again, as when I inevitably parted ways with the practice, what did I see when I returned to move out the last of my equipment? The practice had bought exactly the same blue nudes and pinned them up. Flattering, I suppose, that they robbed my aesthetic!
So I say, here’s to trusting one’s aesthetic and standing up to blue. Blue that is not neutral, it turns out. Even in carpet form.
Till next week,
Rachel
