Utilitarian Cope Turquoise

Latin ūtilitās, usefulness — adjectival suffix -ian. As a color modifier, utilitarian implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-stripped-down quality, the crisp color of Shaker-and-Quaker anti-ornamental functional-and-no-frills craft tradition. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and workmanlike in usage.

Latin cappa, long-ecclesiastical-cloak. As a color modifier, cope implies a long-ecclesiastical-cloak-and-bishop's-cope quality, the visual register of Anglican-and-Catholic-bishop's-cope hand-long-ecclesiastical-cloak-and-bishop's-cope Anglican-and-Catholic-bishop's-cope-and-Westminster-and-Vatican cope-and-long-ecclesiastical-cloak surfaces under Anglican-and-Catholic-bishop's-cope-and-Westminster-and-Vatican Westminster-Abbey-and-Sistine-Chapel ecclesiastical-cloak-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to cloak and cape in usage.

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.