Sonia van de Haar is an artist and architectural colour specialist. Her cross-disciplinary practice Lymesmith is a unique colour focussed studio working across the built environment.

With a deep understanding of how colour, space and form interact, Lymesmith collaborates with architects, designers and private clients to realise the colour potential within their projects. From innovative material palettes, to painted installations for large-scale public infrastructure, Lymesmith’s work can be enjoyed in parks, universities, restaurants, homes, and city laneways, on public transport, at the pool and even in the public toilets at Australia’s most iconic beach.

Sonia’s intelligent approach to colour and her ability to work sensitively with architecture and context has resulted in many long-term partnerships with her collaborators.

Sonia was born in Wollongong and studied painting at the Canberra Institute of the Arts, ANU and architecture at the University of NSW, and traditional Indian fresco painting at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She is a member of the Colour Society of Australia and has taught spatial colour design at UTS and tutored in architecture at UNSW.

She is an enthusiastic speaker on the topic of colour in the built environment and the condition of chromophobia in architects.

Career highlight: winning the 2017 Dulux Colour Awards GRAND PRIX, for a public dunny block.