Colour and design trends reflect postpandemic lives

Pantone’s Colour of the Year

The Pantone Color Institute’s Colour of the Year for 2023 is PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta, which is described as a shade that ‘vibrates with vim and vigour. It’s brave and fearless, and a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative’.

The Pantone Color Institute adds: ‘The Colour of The Year is powerful and empowering. It is a new animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint - an electrifying and boundaryless shade that is manifesting as a standout statement. Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same verve for life and rebellious spirit. It is a colour that is audacious, full of wit and inclusive of all.’

Recognised globally as a leading source of colour expertise, Pantone Color Institute provides colour insights and solutions, collaborating with clients to strategically address colour challenges and develop a colour and design approach consistent with their brand visions.

Visit: www.pantone.com

Both art and science are important factors in the colour and design trends influencing home and housewares right now. So said Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman in her keynote address at The Inspired Home Show 2023.

Lee, who is director of the Eiseman Center for Color Information and Training and executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, shared the insights and inspirations that went into creating the seven palettes in the Pantone View Home + Interiors 2024, which were unveiled at the Show.

“Being alive is an apt metaphor in a time when we are still, and we really are, emerging from the anxiety that has engulfed us in the last few years,” she said. “We can’t ignore that. We know that no matter where we are in this ongoing process, it’s left an indelible and emotional mark on our lives that seeks relief, renewed optimism, and rejuvenation.”

Art is an important part of that healing, as it allows us to use our imagination to visualise new ideas or to express emotions, she explained. Science is important because it provides the very explanation for life itself and how lifeforms are created, evolve and are sustained.

Both art and science played a role in the selection of the Pantone Color Institute’s Colour of the Year for 2023, Viva Magenta (see box). This hue, which Leatrice described as a nuanced crimson red that balances warm and cool colours, reflects both the influence of digitized art and a very small but powerful creature - the cochineal beetle that produces carmine dye, which is one of the most precious, strongest and brightest in the natural dye family.

When it comes to art, Lee says she’s particularly interested in the resurgence of surrealism, which portrays “dreams as an escape from reality”. The style often incorporates unique colour combinations that “dare to be different”.

Trending artforms that are more nature-based include regenerative designs, which often offer a creative and quirky mix of colours and materials that “bring new life to anything that is abused, under-used or otherwise neglected”. There’s also Storm Chaser artwork that captures landscapes at tumultuous, but very colourful, moments in time. Lee is also watching how cuisine is often elevated to an artform, especially in relation to baking and cocktails/specialty beverages.

As for science, water - an essential source of life and energy to many lifeforms - is emerging as a theme in several ways. One is in terms of the popularity of the blue palette, which is often associated with clarity, health and balance. Another is in regards to the popularity of products coming from ocean-related materials, whether seaweed or clay from the powdered shells of sea creatures. There’s also the continued popularity of pearlized finishes and metallics, which evoke the undulating motion of water. Sustainability or nature-based colour and designs continue to resonate, as does anything related to health and wellness.

Entertainment is one of the many industries that Lee studies for future colour trends and preferences. In this year’s session, she cited the latest Avatar movie, whose theme involves water; and an upcoming sequel to Disney’s Inside Out, where each character or emotion assumes a colour; and Despicable Me 4, which incorporates traditional blacks and whites with a wide range of supporting colours.

She also noted that the colours in many of the action-adventure games that remain popular are definitely darker. While those shades are not for everyone - the lighter or mid-tone colours remain most popular - it’s important to note that some people may be more comfortable with them.

• Sustenance: This palette reflects “the rituals of entertaining and dining that never go out of style,” said Lee. It evokes feelings of creative cooking, love and laughter, and the joy of sharing. It involves greens, blue-greens, a yellow-green, some deeper tones and a suggestion of pink.

• Replenish: Lee called this “a water-born palette” which involves many shades of blue but also incorporates apricot and pink to add “a touch of newness”. Evoking thoughts of self-care, hydration and calming bath rituals, it’s all about life balance and rejuvenation.

• Creative Mixology: Every colour family is represented here - even earth tones - in a palette that Lee described as “great fun”. Creative Mixology is all about individuality and experimentation, allowing for free-spirited aesthetics and the mixing of old and new.

• Sanctuary: For those who want softness and steadiness, Sanctuary offers relaxation and harmony with several pastels, mid-tones, and a deeper, chocolate-like brown. It inspires a simple environment, where smart technology solutions are hidden underneath the surface.

Lee closed her session by detailing the seven Pantone View Home + Interiors 2024 palettes. Each one speaks to a different way how consumers can move forward in our post-pandemic world in a tempting, positive, and deeply human mode.

• Stylist: Inspired by fashion crossovers, this combination features many blues and blue-greens, but also incorporates metallics, which add a sheen and “the feeling of undulating water”. This palette feels both traditional and contemporary, and has universal appeal.

• Surrealism: Consumers looking to escape from the everyday with unexpected and unusual colour combinations are likely to appreciate this palette. Described as “illogical, quirky and witty”, Surrealism evokes feelings of an uninhibited dream state.

• Scenic: Inspired by the prismatic hues in nature’s light spectrum, this palette is dynamic and visually arresting (think flashes of lightning, bold sunsets, and reflections of bright colours on clouds). Pinks and purples combine with oranges and orangepinks, as well as some earthy tones, for a “quite beautiful” effect, Lee said.

Owned and operated by the International Housewares Association (IHA), The Inspired Home Show was held from March 4 to March 7 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. Visit: TheInspiredHomeShow.com