Alex Proba – Emotional Design in Sunset Hues and Swimming Pool Blues

The Sound of Colour

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Have you ever thought about how intuition — not theory — can be the most powerful tool in colour-driven design?

Join us as we explore the power of colour with multidisciplinary designer and artist Alex Proba, whose instinctive and joyful approach to design defies conventional rules and embraces colour as a tool for emotional connection.

From furniture and murals to immersive interiors and an 8,000-tile swimming pool in Miami, Alex Proba’s work is rooted in feeling, memory, and a desire to spark happiness. Her designs are vibrant, expressive, and often surprising—guided not by trends or moodboards, but by lived experience and natural observation.

In this episode, Alex shares how she cultivates an intuitive relationship with colour, why she avoids visual trends, and how even the colours she dislikes have an essential role to play. We also explore the deeper purpose behind her work: making people feel good.

And most importantly, she reminds us that design doesn’t have to follow rules to be powerful. Sometimes, it just has to feel right.

Wrapping up this episode with the musical experiment “The Sound of a Colour”, composed by our season’s musician-in-residence, Sofie Søe, the artist behind ALOO. This time, she creates the sound of Rosy Peach.

Alex is one of the most focused and uncompromising creatives I’ve spoken with—her clarity of vision and intuitive approach to colour make for a truly inspiring conversation. Happy listening!

For more color inspiration follow @sarah__gottlieb and this episode's guest @alexproba and the podcast musician @aloo_music

This episode is sponsored by Flügger and Montana Furniture and is supported by The Danish Arts Foundation.

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The Sound of Colour is produced and hosted by Sarah Gottlieb, with music by Matt Motte and edit by Kræsten Kusk.
The host
Sarah Gottlieb is a Copenhagen-based designer and art director specialising in colour and spatial design. Known for transforming environments through innovative use of colour, she is dedicated to creating public spaces that inspire connection and a deeper appreciation for design.

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For images and information from each episode go to the Podcast website

Fejezetek

1. Alex Proba – Emotional Design in Sunset Hues and Swimming Pool Blues (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Alex Prober (00:01:25)

3. Leaving Dentistry for Design (00:02:58)

4. How a Side Project Sparked a Career (00:08:14)

5. Colour as Joyful Resistance (00:12:37)

6. The Podcast Musician Composes Colour: Inside Her Creative Process (00:21:01)

7. The Miami Pool: Turning Technical Challenges Into Art (00:27:50)

8. Designing Feelings, Not Palettes (00:36:06)

9. Staying Original in a Trend-Driven World (00:41:38)

10. The Sound of Rosy Peach (00:42:35)

11. The Musician has Created The Sound of Rosy Peach (00:45:46)