A psychophysical experiment was carried out to investigate factors affecting colour preference for Taiwanese floral pattern fabrics, as a case study of object colour preference. A total of 175 test images of Taiwanese fabrics were used as the stimuli presented on a calibrated computer display. The images were generated on the basis of 5 existing Taiwanese fabrics, each manipulated into 35 images by changing the fabric colour. The 35 colours were selected to cover the most frequently used colours for existing Taiwanese fabrics. The 175 test images were assessed by 76 Taiwanese observers in terms of 9 semantic scales, including Taiwanese style/non-Taiwanese style, Japanese style/non-Japanese style, splendid/plain, traditional/modern, active/passive, warm/cool, heavy/light, like/dislike and harmonious/disharmonious. The experimental results reveal two underlying factors: Splendidness and Harmony. The like/dislike response was found to highly correlate with harmonious/disharmonious, but have poor correlation with Taiwanese style/non-Taiwanese style. The study also reveals several factors affecting colour preference for Taiwanese fabrics, including the interaction effect of colour and pattern, observer's general liking for the object, and the effect of user experience. These findings can help develop a more robust, comprehensive theory of object colour preference. (c) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 41, 43-55, 2016