Colour Consultants
in Dementia Design
Dr Pamela Topping
CEO and Founder
Dr Pamela Topping is a consultant colourist and a specialist in colour application in spaces for people with dementia. She has a unique set of skills and experience to deliver best practice in dementia design for healthcare and senior living projects.
Pamela delivers high impact through a user design ethos, co-creating through round table discussions and collaborative design workshops. She is a regular speaker within Ulster University, Councils, Co-Innovate and the Ulster Business School.
Accreditations and professional experience
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B.DES (Hons) 3D Design
MA Multidisciplinary Design
PhD - 2016Title: Colour in Spaces for People with Dementia; Principles, Decisions and Implementation
Ulster University - Lecturer in Product Design
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Pamela leads the company as it builds and empowers people who are intent on creating a better place, an all-inclusive place that embraces the spirit of community and a love of life for those with dementia. She has a wealth of leadership experience and excellence including growing nursing home developments and scaling global marketplaces. Within her teaching career, she has previously held many positions as an educator, lecturer and academic leader including organising symposiums, conferences and visiting speakers.
Pamela delivers high impact through a user design ethos, co-creating through round table discussions and collaborative design workshops. She is a regular speaker within Ulster University, Councils, Co-Innovate and the Ulster Business School. In Pamela’s earlier career she trained and served as a nurse in the Belfast City Hospital.
Dr Topping has also held the position as a Non-Executive Director for GROW for 10 years – Generating Rural Opportunities Within South Antrim, (Economic Empowerment for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council). She has a deep commitment to community and education, as she currently serves on the Board of Governors for pupils at a local Belfast school, also held for 10 years.
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Colour and Light - Necessities in the Built Environment – UCD, Dublin
The Dementia Learning and Development Framework - The NI Executive
Alzheimer's Care and Cure Magazine – Trinity College Dublin
'This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go' Mapping Colours in Interiors for older people in supported housing - AIC Vancouver, Canada
How Colour Symbolises equality, embraces diversity, promotes communication, reduces risk and nurtures harmony within the built environment. Hammond Care, Sydney, Australia
Unpacking Design for Dementia: 'recall'. RCA (Royal College of Art, London)
How the Built Environment can communicate to persons with dementia, tracing physical memory relating to one's life story, through the exploration of multi-sensory architecture. ‘Sonas apc’, Engaging Dementia, Dublin
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Investigating Design and Colour in the Building of Dementia Friendly Environments. DSDC
2015 Alzheimer's Society/CARDI (Enabling Environments for those with a Dementia Diagnosis.) Trinity College Dublin
Bursary Award - 2010 KTN (Design for Dementia in the Modern Built Environment)
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Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority
Centre of Excellence in Universal Design/Trinity Haus
City & Guilds Diploma
Dementia Design DSDC - Stirling University
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Journal of Cybertherapy and Rehabilitation, 2010. Reminiscence Systems: A Comparative Evaluation
Colour and Light - Necessities in the Built Environment – UCD, Dublin
The Dementia Learning and Development Framework - The NI Executive
Alzheimer's Care and Cure Magazine – Trinity College Dublin
This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go' Mapping Colours in Interiors for older people in supported housing - AIC Vancouver, Canada
How Colour Symbolises equality, embraces diversity, promotes communication, reduces risk and nurtures harmony within the built environment. Hammond Care, Sydney, Australia
Unpacking Design for Dementia: 'recall'. RCA (Royal College of Art, London)
How the Built Environment can communicate to persons with dementia, tracing physical memory relating to one's life story, through the exploration of multi-sensory architecture. ‘Sonas apc’, Engaging Dementia, Dublin
Watch film of Dr Topping talking colour inspiration
Libby Miskimmon
Director of Operations
With more than 30 years’ experience in various executive roles Libby continues to evidence a real aptitude for thinking creatively and strategically. She understands the nuances of commercial viability to ensure Colourwired designs are deliverable and provide key returns to investor's whilst enhancing the quality of life for people diagnosed with dementia.
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Libby returned to university as a mature student to undertake a degree in 3D Design at the University of Ulster. She has a diversified portfolio of skills pertaining to Interior Architecture; demonstrating apt strengths engineered by both a degree in Business Management and her recently achieved, Masters in 3D Design.
She exudes a passionate and committed drive to influence and educate clients on the benefits of colour and light within spatial design discourse and practice. Concurrently she demonstrates a plethora of strengthened negotiation and organisational skills which consequently ensure timely results and apt resolutions. Libby maintains a keen interest in Architectural Heritage and Conservation of historical buildings. She believes that by promoting and preserving the architectural and spatial identity of the community we can retain a dialectical relationship with the past through design
Principles and vision
“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul”
We design to encourage people to do what they can, rather than what they can’t. Dynamic design empowers vulnerable people to achieve the best they can. We believe in embracing new research and digital technologies to remain fully conversant in the ever changing world of design.