The color characteristics of Cartier's exotic design in the early 20th century

As the international competitive landscape deepens, the need to understand foreign cultures and establish effective strategies is increasing. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cartier actively developed exotic designs to secure international competitiveness; theses designs have also been used as design prototypes for Cartier in modern times. The purpose of this study is to analyze the color characteristics and types of exotic designs in the early 20th century, which was a turning point in Cartier's design. After studying the literature, a total of 248 exotic designs were presented in Cartier catalogs. This study also selected overseas monographs from the early 20th century, and their design types were classified and color analysis was performed based on the Natural Color System(NCS). Cartier's exotic designs cover wide range of styles, such as Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Indian and Egyptian styles. Multicolor, primary colors, and contrast are all strongly expressed. 97% of designs contained multiple colors, with at least two colors and maximum of six colors. The most frequently used colors are red, green, and blue, which means that only 9% of the designs do not contain the three colors, showing a high preference for theses three colors. In addition, color combinations of red and green, red and blue, or all three colors are used to show high contrast and utilize complementary colors, or near complementary colors, for coloration. This study is meaningful in that it analyzes the color characteristics of Cartier's exotic designs and translates them into practical data for establishing the color strategies of companies in the global market.

20세기 초 까르띠에의 이국적 디자인의 색상 특성