New : Colorae

The alchemy of craftsmanship

From the early stages of the project to the creation of 24 new references of stained wood panels, the Colorae collection embodies the coming together of two distinct areas of expertise. On one side, the craftsmanship of Oberflex’s workshops – a French “Living Heritage Company” (EPV) – where each sheet of veneer is carefully selected, sorted, assembled, stained and laminated through a precise sequence of skilled processes. On the other, Sybille Berger’s expertise. To explore the full subtlety of stained wood and compose this palette of colours, she developed a process entirely her own.

Beyond the exploration of colour, the project was rooted in a deep understanding of the wood staining techniques that are part of Oberflex’s expertise: the way different wood species absorb pigments and respond to lamination, as well as the possibility of creating a shared language capable of translating the designer’s colour “recipes” into reproducible processes within Oberflex.

In her studio in Marseille, the designer therefore worked with the same tools used by Oberflex when developing a bespoke colour: pigments, a beaker, a scale and wood samples. Rather than relying on standardised references, Sybille Berger developed her own “recipe” for each colour, carefully measuring and adjusting the balance of pigments.

Through successive formulations, repeated trials and application tests on the three wood species, the designer developed a palette of around fifty colours. The formulations were then tested and reinterpreted at Oberflex’s workshops, with the aim of faithfully reproducing on the wood veneers the nuances of the samples created by the designer. The colours were refined and then organised into colour ranges. Building on her work with textiles, Sybille Berger conceived each shade in relation to the others, juxtaposing colours and allowing her eye to guide the combinations.

“What fascinated me about this project was the way colour interacts with material. At times, I almost felt as though I were creating a new material.”
Sybille Berger

An architectural palette

“A colour never exists on its own. It always exists in relation to another colour, to a material and to its surroundings.”
Sybille Berger

Verveine, Bleu de Ressac, Agave, Sumac, Garrigue, Criste marine, Indigo… From one wood species to another, the names of the colours reveal Sybille Berger’s creative journey and the sources of inspiration she gathered along the way — from mineral landscapes and plants to the natural world and echoes of her work with textiles.

Echoing some of the modern theories of colour developed throughout the 20th century, from the Bauhaus to Le Corbusier’s architectural research, the Colorae collection is built around a harmony of grounding shades, transitional tones and accent colours.

Thus, within the three colour ranges dedicated to each wood species, some shades establish the foundation, others create transitions and balance, while the more intense colours bring a sense of dynamism. This colour rhythm allows the shades to be envisioned individually, in pairs or combined into more structured compositions.

Oak, larch and ash: depending on the wood species, colour comes alive and vibrates in different ways. At times, the shades emphasise the regular lines of the grain; at others, they reveal the subtle undulations of the material through a translucent effect, like a print or a watercolour.

With 24 references across three wood species, Colorae unfolds a timeless palette designed to interact freely with spaces, materials and light, giving wood a new architectural presence.

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