Back in 2025, I was delighted to be commissioned by the brilliant team at Tullie, Carlisle, to create a Colour Palette for the city.
The idea was to create a range of colourful memory gifts for visitors, with six swatches capturing some of the places, stories and details that make Carlisle distinctive.
The palette has been available through Tullie, and I’m delighted that the Carlisle Colour Palette is now available to order directly from The Colour Palette Company website too.
And if you haven’t seen this particular palette before, Carlisle gave me plenty to work with.
For these six colours I travelled through almost 2,000 years of history, took in one of England’s great border castles, found a couple of mythical creatures, headed to the football and, naturally, stopped for a biscuit.
Six colours inspired by Carlisle
We begin with Backing the Blues, celebrating Carlisle United, the city’s beloved football team.
Then we’re heading considerably further back in time.
Tyrian Purple takes its inspiration from Carlisle’s Roman and imperial past, while Wyvern Red celebrates the fabulous creatures of the city’s coat of arms.
Carlisle’s architecture gives us another of the palette’s strongest colours. Castle Sandstone reflects the wonderful red sandstone walls of Carlisle Castle.
Then there’s Bitts Park Green, a lively tribute to Carlisle’s great green heart.
Which leaves one very important Carlisle contribution to British life.
Biscuits.
Custard Cream honours the city’s world-famous biscuit legacy. It also gave me a perfectly good excuse to put a biscuit in the middle of a Colour Palette.
The Carlisle Colour Palette
The finished six are:
BACKING THE BLUES
TYRIAN PURPLE
CUSTARD CREAM
WYVERN RED
CASTLE SANDSTONE
BITTS PARK GREEN
Football, Romans, biscuits, heraldry, a castle and a park.
That’s quite a journey across six swatches.
The Carlisle Colour Palette can now be ordered directly from The Colour Palette Company across a collection of Carlisle and Cumbria gifts, including ceramic mugs, framed and unframed wall art, coasters and fridge magnets.
They make great memory gifts for visitors, but also work for people who already know and love Carlisle: locals, Carlisle United supporters, proud Cumbrians and former residents looking for a little reminder of home.
A huge thank you again to the team at Tullie for commissioning me to create it in the first place.
And yes, Custard Cream remains one of my favourite swatch names.
