The Chromologist

Glyn Fussell, activist and creative who describes himself as ‘the party starter who changed the scene forever’ invites Patrick O’Donnell into his newly painted Essex home deep in Epping forest. Glyn is the wild mind behind the trailblazing queer party Sink the Pink and the co-creator of one of the UK’s biggest pop music festivals, Mighty Hoopla. This special conversation marks PRIDE month and Farr...

 Lucinda Chambers is one of fashion’s most influential figures. She’s former director for Vogue and the founder of boutique online retail outlets Collagerie and Colville. In this episode, she invites Patrick into her West London home to share her life in colour – from the coral of her mother’s creativity and her childhood homes to the traditional deep blue of French workwear, which for her sy...

Former Royal Ballet dancer and model, Eric Underwood, welcomes Patrick into the rambling Chiltern farmhouse he’s recently moved to. In the cosiness of Eric’s library snug they talk about his deep bond with his mother which he likens to the expansive blue of the colour Borrowed Light, about his childhood growing up in Washington D.C as a gifted dancer and about his experiences as one of the few pro...

Australian, Michelin-starred chef and former food editor for Vogue, Skye Gyngell, invites Patrick into her beautiful restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House in London. Together they savour the story of Skye’s upbringing through her choice of deep, dark greens and bright, bold yellows. She says: ‘If you’ve grown up in a country like Australia, the majesty of nature is so huge, the skies are so vast,...

American fashion designer and luminary Christopher John Rogers talks to Patrick about the colours of his life, from his studio in Manhattan. Christopher recently collaborated with Farrow & Ball on the Carte Blanche collection - a capsule collection of paint and paper inspired by childhood memories of food and family. In this conversation he shares four colours from that collecti...

Singer, author and broadcaster Cerys Matthews brings Patrick into her River home in this special episode of The Chromologist. It’s a joyous first meeting and the two discover they share a great love of mud colours, conch shells and the rich greens of the Welsh countryside. Cerys also shares the deep red colour of her Catatonia years. ‘It was a wide old word. A fiery red is always what I think abou...

Colour historian and author of  The Secret Lives of Colour , Kassia St Clair, leads Patrick through her pink front door to share her lifetime love of colour. From the beige her father was obsessed with to the bright pink of her mother’s florist shop, she shares colours that connect the different chapters of her life. She also offers up some of her own fascinating colour tales, including the e...

Queer Eye  TV show star and fashion guru, Tan France, offers Patrick a glimpse of his Utah home, which he shares with his husband Rob and two young children. Together they explore the colours that have shaped Tan over his lifetime, from the bright red of his cousin’s wedding dress to the rich greens of the mountains he looks onto each morning over a noisy family breakfast in Utah. ‘I live in...

Mary Portas, creative trailblazer and retail revolutionary, invites Patrick O’Donnell into her London home to talk about the colours that have guided her through her life. ‘The world is colourful’ she says, ‘I always see my life in colour’. Together they delve into the way colours open a door onto chapters of our lives. ‘Orange has always been a great friend to me - through my hair, my fashion, my...

If you had to choose four key colours that have shaped your life, what would they be? Colour expert for Farrow & Ball, Patrick O’Donnell, explores how colour works in our homes but also how it works in our heads, our hearts, our identities. He joins creatives, designers and performers who reveal their stories through colour, guided by the Farrow and Ball colour chart. Guests include Mary...