It’s interesting to see how brands and mediums are joining in the Colors of the Year 2017 publications. I had a very interesting conversation with Karl Johan Bertilsson, VP of sales at NCS during the IMM in Cologne last week. By the way, if you want to get a quick idea of my talk at the IMM, we made a short video.
He said, it is fundamental to see where are we right now to understand the reason behind a color we crave in the future. Determining a Color of the Year with no apparent reason behind makes obviously no sense. We agreed on the fact we often see mediums talk about ‘trends’ with not much information about the drivers.
Today’s post talks about 3 color palettes that have been put together by the creative team at AD France, the French version of Architectural Digest. Creative director Thibaut Mathieu, stylist Aurore Lameyre in collaboration with photographer Peter Langer have been producing the following images.
Since I could not find much information about the why behind these colors chosen, I will try to add some text on what I believe could make sense:
1// Pastel color scheme + shiny effects
Vibrant shimmery nuances talk about a COSMIC world, a much seen and still ongoing trend. Humankind has made it possible to reach the space with suborbital flights. Virgin Galactic will be the first commercial company to offer spaceflights. Founder Sir R. Branson flew first in 2009, he has been testing and improving ever since and the first commercial flight will be scheduled in a near future. Dreaming of the wide universe and reaching it has become a bit closer. Not to forget Star Wars and the spin-off Rouge One who play a major influencer, too. COSMIC used to play with the dark, the unknown, mystery but has evolved and interacts in 2017 with a lighter look&feel. Shiny and bright colors with iridescence and glitter effects are key. Glass transparencies and silk mimic the glint of natural light using pearlescent and holographic effects. Heimtextil 2017 confirms this trend.
2// Green + Blue + Mustard + Brass
To start with, this is a palette that works due to its harmonious scheme. Yellow and Blue being primary colors, become Green when mixed. Dark Green has been around in Interior Design for a while now, reminding us that we want to bring the indoors in, being surrounded by anything that reminds us of nature. Especially when living a more urban live, this is right up our alley. After the long-time Urban Jungle Style the next step for interiors would be green paint for walls, already predicted by Dulux for 2016 (and what a success it was on this blog with +34K shares). Moody goes still strong and the second most popular shade (if you don’t count Gray) is Blue.
We are going anyhow towards darker shades in 2017- confirmed by NCS- being influenced by a current market psychology (economical, socio-cultural and political indicators) that invites to cozy and snuggle up in our homes with a darker palette. Blue can give a reference of calmness and serenity we need today to escape from an often all too stressful working environment. Brass finishes and mustard give a reference of light and sparkle that make the overall look&feel more optimistic.
3// Red shades
I would personally have loved to see more earthy shades that range from Blush to Coral, Watermelon, Terra-Cotta and Burgundy. This would have been represented a similar feeling as mentioned in 2//. It’s a way of being connected to Mother Earth,
And I believe that was somehow the intention here though we have the feeling of basically seeing one tone of Red.
The proposal below is to me a rather artistic approach, not suitable for indoor living where Red stands for passion, love and vitality but also can give a totally different impression depending on other color combinations.
When combines with white, the result is a pink tint that stands for delicacy, love, compassion, romance, sensitivity . But when combined with the opposite which is Black, the new tone can provoke a rather dark mood and even slide into an aggressive atmosphere. Out of the three, this last style is probably the less comercial.
Whatever reason they had to come up with this color prediction, I believe it’s interesting to see different authorities such as Interior Style Magazines not only belonging to color institutes and share their take.
