Colour news
Seeing colourWhy Your TV’s Colors Look Different to Everyone Else, Explained by New Vision ModelCraft and textilesNeed a pop of colour? Try autumn 2026’s designer accessoriesPigments and dyesArcheologists discover hidden tomb untouched for 600 years that's 'like a treasure chest'FestivalsShrichakra Rangoli: How ancient India turned geometry, mathematics and cosmic thought into a sacred art formFestivalsPoliticians grab limelight as Holi colour bombs Bangkok Photo 1/11FestivalsPhotos of the weekColour of the yearEvery 2027 Color of the Year We Know So FarFashion and designThe 8 Colors Fashion Girls are Building Their Fall Wardrobes AroundFestivalsIn India, Holi welcomes spring with a Festival of ColorsColour of the yearTom’s Watch Bar Partners With Dodgers Fan Club Pantone 294Seeing colourWhy Your TV’s Colors Look Different to Everyone Else, Explained by New Vision ModelCraft and textilesNeed a pop of colour? Try autumn 2026’s designer accessoriesPigments and dyesArcheologists discover hidden tomb untouched for 600 years that's 'like a treasure chest'FestivalsShrichakra Rangoli: How ancient India turned geometry, mathematics and cosmic thought into a sacred art formFestivalsPoliticians grab limelight as Holi colour bombs Bangkok Photo 1/11FestivalsPhotos of the weekColour of the yearEvery 2027 Color of the Year We Know So FarFashion and designThe 8 Colors Fashion Girls are Building Their Fall Wardrobes AroundFestivalsIn India, Holi welcomes spring with a Festival of ColorsColour of the yearTom’s Watch Bar Partners With Dodgers Fan Club Pantone 294
Rang

White coral-stone Swahili town

Lamu

A Swahili island town of whitewashed coral-stone houses, carved doors and wooden sailing dhows.

Lamu harbour
Photo: MysteryBee, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Lamu is coral lime white

Lamu Old Town, on an island off the north coast of Kenya, is the oldest continuously lived-in Swahili settlement in East Africa. Its houses are built of coral stone and mangrove poles and finished in lime plaster, which gives them a white or pale grey surface that darkens with the rains. Fronts are plain, with a stone bench by the door; the heavy wooden doors are carved with fine patterns. Streets are too narrow for cars, so goods move by donkey and by dhow, a wooden boat with a triangular sail. Men often wear a white robe and cap; women traditionally a black outer wrap. Lamu has been a World Heritage Site since 2001.

Coral lime white#F0ECE0Mangrove timber brown#5B4033Dhow sail cream#E9DDC0Channel turquoise#3FA7A3

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Lamu

WhiteThe lightest colour, seen in snow, milk and chalk, and opposite to black
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Lamu" on Wikipedia. If you know Lamu and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
🇮🇳 The White CityUdaipurWhite palaces and whitewashed houses stand around lakes in the Aravalli hills of southern Rajasthan.🇮🇳 Kolam white and Madras checksChennaiWhite kolam drawings at each doorstep, yellow autorickshaws, red colonial brick and painted temple towers.🇮🇳 Fine florals on whiteSanganerA printing town on the edge of Jaipur, known for delicate flower motifs on a white ground.🇮🇳 City of the Taj MahalAgraThe white marble of the Taj Mahal shifts from pink at dawn to gold at dusk, beside forts of red sandstone.🇱🇰 The white fort townGalleA walled colonial town on Sri Lanka's south coast, with white churches, a white lighthouse and ochre villas.🇧🇹 Valley of white fortresses and red chilliesParoWhite-walled monasteries with a red band under the roof stand above rice fields in a Himalayan valley.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly palette

Every Monday: seven colours you may not know, what the world is wearing this week, and one idea about colour.