About this combination
Tobi-iro — kite brown — is the color of the common Japanese black kite's feathers: warm, dusty, rural. Paired with kogane gold leaf, it is the brown of an old lacquer box with gilt edges, a signature of Edo craftsmanship.
Where it works
- Heritage craft, lacquerware, leather
- Premium spirits and whiskey
- Editorial for classic fiction
Historical context
This editorial combination anchors Tobi, Kogane and Sumi in the brown family — a 3-colour grouping with a warm, earthy, refined character. It is an original composition by the editors of colorcombinations.org, built with Wada's method from traditional Japanese shikisai colour names associated with the Edo era; it is not one of the 348 plates in Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations. Its strongest pairing — Kogane on Sumi — reaches a contrast ratio of 6.73:1, meeting the WCAG AA bar for body text, so it holds up for text-on-colour layouts as well as decorative use.
Studio
Taking Kite Brown & Gold off the screen
A hex code is an instruction to a screen, not a colour. Where this palette is going decides what it needs next.
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...onto paper
Start here if the palette gets printed. Screen colour and ink colour are not the same colour, and this is the deck that translates between them.
Listed on Amazon as Pantone Formula Guide – Coated & Uncoated | Professional PMS Color Matching System for Print, Packaging & Graphic Design | GP1601B
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...onto a screen you can trust
Start here if it stays digital. An uncalibrated monitor is the single most common reason a palette that looked right on your desk looks wrong everywhere else.
Calibrite
ColorChecker Passport Photo 2
Listed on Amazon as Calibrite ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 Portable Color Calibration Kit for Photo and Video, 4 Target Set for White Balance, Exposure and Creative Look
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...by hand
Start here if you are mixing it. Wada's plates were flat printed colour; gansai pans are the closest everyday medium to them.
Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 36
Listed on Amazon as Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolor Paint Set 36 Colors
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