The Perfect Color

It’s one thing to design a piece of sturdy, elegant hardware for a line of shades. It’s quite another challenge to determine what colors to offer.   

Martinez outlines the issue: “We offer 435 fabrics in our current roller shade collection — 435 options to choose from. And when we pick the color palette, our goal is that our hardware can coordinate with the fabric collection.” It’s simply not feasible to offer hardware that’s a precise match to every shade of fabric, so the team needed to be very judicious.   

The team settled on six basic options to choose from, and then the process of checking each selection against that broad range of fabrics began. “To give you an example, we probably offer something along the lines of 50 different whites, and they range from cool whites that are bright and vibrant and crisp to very creamy whites that are warm and inviting,” says Martinez. “If you only get one complimentary shade of white when it comes to the hardware, the goal is that white should be able to coordinate with the spectrum of fabric colors.”   

The process called for more color options than had been initially planned, including a new gray tone. “We have so many gray fabrics that we made the determination that we needed to add a darker gray so that it helps with the color coordination for the customer,” says Martinez.   

The evolution of the products continues. “We’re looking at adding more finishes to the hardware, including metallic looks,” says Martinez. “And we’re constantly addressing how our shading options can mirror or complement the finishes of our keypads and all the other solutions we’re creating.”  

While a shading solution may seem like a simple creation to an untrained eye, Martinez is fascinated by the myriad ways a single aspect of a project can improve the overall experience. “My job comes down to understanding the consumer's needs and how to be empathetic. And shading can transform your home in so many different ways — it’s part of your lighting scheme, it impacts climate control, and it can really affect the ‘mood’ of a room.”   

“It has much more of an impact than people realize — but when they see it, that ‘oh, wow’ moment is something special.”