Thaitone

Thaitone is a color scheme designed to follow colors used in traditional Thai art. It was compiled by Pairoj Pittayamatee, and is the result of ten years study about the traditional color making and using in Thailand's art history for his master's and doctoral degrees at Silpakorn University. The identity of Thai color is that it is made completely from natural ingredients, plants and minerals that can be found in Thailand.[1] The shade is soft and not too vivid. The problem is the colors will not be exactly the same every time they are used because they are handmade. To make the use of the Thaitone color scheme universal, Professor Pairoj aimed to research and compare the Thai color scheme with the CMYK color model by using the Pantone color system and collect them in a database for everyone, especially Thai designers who can adapt the Thaitone colors to be used in modern design.[2] As of now, there are 156 Thaitone colors identified in the CMYK color standard.[3] Thaitone color has become one of Thailand's cultural identities by reflecting the beauty, belief and characteristics of Thailand.[4]

Primary colors in Thaitone

Same as universal primary color standard, the Thaitone primary colors consist of red, yellow and blue. The colors are called Chard (red), Rong (yellow) and Kraam (blue).[5] However, the tones of the colors are not the same as standard.

Chard

Chard is vermillion.[4] It is considered the most important color in Thai art as the red color represents auspicious things and heaven in Thai belief.[3][4]

Rong

Rong is gamboge tint.[4] The word rong is from Rong Thong tree (Gracinia Hanbury Hook) which can be found easily along the seaside province of the Gulf of Thailand.[5]

Kraam

Kraam is the indigo color from the pigment of Indigo stems and leaves.[4] Kraam can be considered the most familiar Thaitone color for Thai people since the color is very popular in traditional Thai dyeing.[5]

Benjarong - Five primary colors in Thaitone

These five primary colors consist of the three primary colors in Thaitone (Chard, Rong, Kraam) with two other colors, black and white.[4] The Benjarong color scheme was popularly used in traditional Thai mural art and porcelain painting.

Group of ten colors of Thaitone

These Thaitone colors consist of the five primary colors (Benjarong) that are Chard, Rong, Kraam, black and white, and five other colors which are created from mixing colors in the Benjarong color group, which are orange, green, violet, brown and gold.[4]

Ingredients for making color in Thai's color making

[4][6]

Ingredients Color
Adenanthera pavonina Red
Lac Red, purple-red
Sappan tree Red, orange
Red iron oxide Dark red
Cinnabar Chard
Red lead Light red
Saffron Yellow
Gracinia hanbury hook Rong
Turquoise Aqua
Turmeric Yellow
Green bronze Green
Malachite Vivid green
Indigo Kraam
Yellow soil Dark yellow
White lead Ivory
Lapis lazuli Gold, white, blue

Thaitone color nowadays

The use of Thaitone color is now supported by Thailand's Ministry of Culture to promote Thailand's cultural identity.[4] From the study of Professor Pairoj, he has identified 156 colors. He gave Thai names to each color and used the Pantone color analysing program to find the CMYK code so that they can be used worldwide.[3] There are new colors being constantly discovered so Professor Pairoj still works on the project to identify more CMYK codes. He has also claimed the copyright for the name "THAITONE", but the Thaitone color scheme is allowed to be used freely as reference for colors in design work, as long as the users give credit to the THAITONE Color System.

Colors

Thaitone
Color Name CMYK Code
Keabbua c5 m30 y10 k0 T0060
Dangdokchaba c5 m90 y80 k0 T1170
Sangdadduad c10 m70 y70 k0 T1550
Khayan c30 m90 y70 k20 T1600
Daoroung c0 m30 y100 k0 T3220
Srok-jang c30 m5 y35 k0 T4272

References

  1. ^ Pholdhampalit, Khetsirin (21 February 2016). "The true colours of Thailand". The Nation. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  2. ^ Room. "THAITONE โทนสีไทย โดย ไพโรจน์ พิทยเมธี", บ้านและสวน, 14 Jan 2016. Retrieved on 27 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "ไทยโทน" เสน่ห์ของเฉดสีไทย 2017, television program, พิกัดข่าวเช้านี้ต้องรู้, NOW26, Bangkok, 27 January.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i ศูนย์บันดาลไทย กระทรวงวัฒนธรรม. (2015). “สีไทยโทน” เสน่ห์ไทยเพิ่มมูลค่าธุรกิจ [PDF file]. กรุงเทพฯ: กระทรวงวัฒนธรรม. Retrieved from http://www.bundanthai.com/uploads/news/document/20151102150902hM2W6DC.pdf
  5. ^ a b c กระเป๋าแฟชั่น. "THAITONE อัตลักษณ์ไทย สู่ Tropical Color", BLOG GALLERY Lifestyle, 25 July 2016. Retrieved on 27 January 2017.
  6. ^ สีจากธรรมชาติ. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://fieldtrip.ipst.ac.th/intro_sub_content.php?content_id=28&content_folder_id=281