Yves Klein, Suaire de Mondo Cane (Mondo Cane Shroud), 1961, pigment, synthetic resin on gauze.

Color is subjective: What causes delight for one person might provoke hostility in another, which is why color can be a deciding factor in whether or not an item belongs in one’s home. More than 50 years after its creation, Yves Klein’s shade of blue still provides inspiration for designers.

International Klein Blue is one of the few colors you never forget seeing for the first time, like the red shock of fresh blood or he shine of chrome on the lurid pink of post-thunderstorm sunset. It is a color patented by the French painter Yves Klein (1928 - 1962), the short-lived provocateur who dabbled in photography and sculpture and Duchamp-inspired frivolities, but who is known primarily - unfairly, capitalistically, pick your adverb - for his monochromatic canvases saturated in blue.