The Toronto-based store, Jane Hall: The Voice of Color, is a decorating store like no other. Colorful and exotic, it's like embarking on a sensual journey.

A mist Jane Hall and her partner Ian Levack, have set out to make their interior design and custom home furnishings shop one that stimulates all the senses. Colour and texture drive the mood of their European style showroom which employs exotic materials including sari silks, crushed velvets, sequins and golden tassels to create a lush and inviting ambience. What's more, Hall and Levack market "design" by organizing merchandise into colour groups with their own original colour coding system that allows clients to see an integrated decorating scheme at a glance.

The shop, which is situated in Toronto's Pape and Danforth area opened its doors in May 2001 and features six themed "merchandise" vignettes, each including one-of-a kind sofas, chairs, various cushions, carpets and paintings. These "mini movie sets" evoke the tones of Warmth, Tranquility, Playfulness, Simplicity, Elegance and Power. As clients settle into the environment that appeals to them, Hall gets a sense of what look will suit their needs.

The vignettes are changed every three months to keep the showroom looking fresh and exciting and each one is done in a different color. "Color is very interesting," says Hall, "because it works on our emotions. By changing colors, we can change our moods." For example, the color blue is an appetite depressant, she says, and should not be used for a kitchen or a dining room. Warmer colors like reds, yellows and oranges, on the other hand, tend to stimulate the appetite, says Hall. Red inspires passion and is best for the bedroom while purple is a healing color, she adds.

Although The Voice of Color is a high-end decorating store, Hall says her merchandising approach can work anywhere, including home centres and mass merchants that carry the paint category. The secret, she says, is to minimize, simplify and show lots of color. "We took Pittsburgh Paints' 1,954 colors and reduced them down to 240 colors. We figure that by reducing people's choices, we make it far easier for there to make decisions. I have found from past experience, that 75% of the time I can sell from 75 colors. The more selection you give customers, the more you con
fuse them," says Hall.

Another sales aid that has worked very well for The Voice of Color is the use of color chips that are much larger than the standard square inch ones that the industry uses. "We have a 4" x 6" paint chip and a 8" x12" paint chip," says Hall. "And in each color group, we have a 4'x 8' wall to show customers how the 4" x 6" color chip looks on a wall. When you show them the color chip and then you show them how it will look like on a wall, they don't think it's the same color." Everytime a paint chip gets bigger, it gets lighter, she says. "That's why people make terrible mistakes when painting because they make their decision based on a little chip which looks far more saturated than it would on the big wall."

Paint color is the most important decision that people make when decorating their home, says Hall. "The color of the wall is the most important statement that a home owner makes and it's up to retailers to tell their customers that they should select the color for the walls first and then get the rest of the furnishings like rugs, sofas, lamps, etc. So the color of their walls absolutely has to be a color that they love."

Hall's passion for color comes from her background as a professional artist. She has designed for companies like Mikasa, Jason, Imperial Wall Coverings, The Bay, and Sears Canada to narne a few, as well as created unique, hand-painted furnishings including chairs, armoires, tables. The response from customers to the use of color in her store has been "mind blowing," she says. "We've had people walk into the store and say it's like walking into a dream, a fantasy world ... like Cat in the Hat comes alive ... or like Moulin Rouge. It's theatrical. People see all these colors .... red...yellow ...purple ...orange ...periwinkle ...etc. and they say `I love all the colors!' They are totally surprised."

But it's not just customers who are impressed with this unique store. This year, Cadillac Fairview the real estate developers awarded its $50,000 ARC (Achievement in

New Retail Concepts) Award to The Voice of Color. Peter Sharpe, Cadillac Fairview's president and CEO presented the $50,000 prize to Jane Hall and Ian Levack at the fifth annual ARC Awards Gala held at Toronto's Design Exchange this spring. Close to 200 top North American retailers attend the invitation-only event honoring innovative retail concepts and entrepreneurs.

" We were very impressed by the quality of candidates in this year's ARC Awards" said Sharpe. "Clearly retail in Canada is alive with dynamic new ideas and concepts and Jane Hall: The Voice of Color is a striking example of this innovation and vitality," he said.

Jane Hall: The Voice of Color was selected from more than 50 entries and four finalists which also included: The Art of Hardware of Calgary, Alberta; Snap-on based in Sherway Gardens, Etobicoke, Ontario; Upholstery Arts of Vancouver, British Columbia.

To be eligible for the 2002 ARC Awards, candidates had to be retailers operating in Canada who had launched a significant and innovative concept between April 3, 2000 and October 30, 2001. Both new entrepreneurs and established businesses with a new concept were eligible.

The success of Jane Hall: The Voice of Color is directly related to the creativity and originality of Hall and Levack, and also speaks to a larger retail trend which indicates that "home" is indeed where the "heart" is.