Sheffield School of Interior Design

Special Report: Color Trends 2004

With the new year, it's time to start thinking about the new trends that are coming into vogue; as a professional designer, or even just as someone who loves being ahead of the curve, you want to know what's happening before it hits the catalogues and stores. To help you do that, Designer Monthly is presenting two articles: Design Trends for 2004 and this article on the hot new colors for 2004.

What better place to start than with the upcoming trends in color? After all, color saturates our lives; it resonates with our personal history, it carries cultural meaning, and it can influence how we feel, both physically and emotionally.

To find out what's in store, we went to straight to the color source: Pantone, Inc., a company that is seen in many fields as the arbiter of color, with their globally-accepted Pantone Color Systems. Pantone has a system of identifying, matching and communicating colors, so that there is one standard when talking about colors. This allows a designer, for instance, to choose a specific Pantone color that can then be duplicated in exactly the same shade by a printing company or a textile company, assuring that there is no difference in the color that the designer picked and the resulting color in the product that is created. Of course, this system is invaluable to interior designers, but it's also used in graphic arts, photography, textile, apparel, plastics, architectural and industrial design markets — any field where matching specific colors is a necessity. Every year, Pantone presents a "Color Forecast" — the color palettes they feel will be the trendy new colors for the year.

According to Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, this year people are looking for comfort and calm in their home décor, and that, of course, can in part be created in the color.

"It's as if we're all trying to get someplace to find some solace," Eiseman says. "Opulent pleasure is downplayed and the raucous is abandoned in favor of restful calm. We all seem to be looking for our country escapes."

You can create those escapes even if you're decorating a home in the most urban of environments, by using neutral tones, softer bright tones, and warm reds. As with any decorating idea, using color well depends a great deal on making sure it all harmonizes. You can't just decide that azure blue is hot and paint the walls in that color, leaving everything else as it is.

However, according to Eiseman, keeping on top of the trends can help you make a few key changes in a room in order to give it an updated look. For example, by changing the paint color of a study from burgundy to claret, you can bring the room into a more vogue look without having to completely makeover the décor.

Eiseman says there are eight "most directional" color palettes for home décor for the new year, and Pantone has given each a name: Natural Instincts, Beach Retreat, Global Warming, Enhancing Hues, Sweet Stuff, Creature Comforts, Streamlined, and Finishing Touches.

To develop the palettes each year, Eiseman reads just about everything she can get her hands on, from just about every imaginable field, even fields you wouldn't think would have any influence on color.

"You have to be a sponge that absorbs all of this information," Eiseman says.

For example, Eiseman's husband is in the music field. Eiseman reads his copies of Variety magazine to see what films are in production, and then it's a matter of determining what colors will be emphasized in those films — and whether they'll become popular players in the culture at large. You wouldn't think that a cartoon character could influence interior design, but Eiseman even took into account the movie character Shrek, with his bright green color, from the recent popular sequel.

But Eiseman evaluates all manner of culture, also looking at what exhibits of great art are scheduled to be traveling in the museums of the U.S., and what colors are dominant in those shows.

Of course, Eiseman also takes design trends into consideration. "The Asian aesthetic has been becoming more and more important," she says, pointing to the popularity of "wabisabi," Japanese appreciation of the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete, and of course to Feng Shui, the ancient Asian practice of placement.

Of all the factors to be considered when considering color, the psychological element may be the most important, Eiseman says.

"You have to evaluate the psychological impact of color," Eiseman says. "The psychology plays a huge role."

For example, you may love a claret color, without realizing that it was your mother's favorite color and was used in your childhood bedroom, where you felt safe and secure and happy. Or, you may detest a pale yellow that everyone else loves, without realizing it was the color of your grandmother's dining room where you suffered through interminable dinners as a child. This kind of psychological attachment to color can create a challenge for designers and for marketers, because a consumer may insist on using particular colors or refuse to use other colors without knowing why.

"We have to learn to be more tolerant, because sometimes when we open up to a color, it can open us up to new awareness and new vistas. However, as a designer, you have to be aware of the resonance that a color may have with your client. You can't inflict your own likes and dislikes onto the client," Eiseman says.

"Designers sometimes dismiss a color out of hand by saying it's an old color," she says. "If it resonates with that client, you need to embrace that color and bring it in some way."

The color palettes for this year are staying close to the comforting, natural colors we've been using for the past couple of years, with some new, surprising splashes.

The first, Natural Instincts, uses the colors found in the natural world of the woods and forests, such as Desert Sage, Granite Green, Pinecone, and Young Wheat. These colors could work in a mountainside retreat, but they can also be brought into play in a more modern or urban apartment, brining in a little of the natural world to soothe and calm.

Beach Retreat colors include Illusion blues and grays, offering another kind of retreat from the busy world. By using a palette of oyster gray, aqua gray, and several blues and lavender blues, you can create a seaside feeling even when you're thousands of miles from the shore.

The colors of Global Warming maybe aren't as frightening as the name would imply: they're simply a reflection of the warming trend of color in home décor. These colors are all found in or near the red family, and even their names will warm you up: Molten Lava, Spicy Orange, Dancing Pink and Vivid Yellow.

The Enhancing Hues group again stays with a natural look, by taking its color from a wide variety of skin tones, celebrating the variation of humanity. Colors such as Pale Mauve, Clay, Cognac, and Rose Brown will give you a soft, neutral palette on which you can base a whole decorating scheme.

The Sweet Stuff palette allows the decorator to play a little more with color, and to create a sweet room without being cloying. Try combining colors such as Peach Pink, Mimosa, Brandied Melon and Smoky Grape in a girl's room or a sitting room.

With Creature Comforts, you'll be creating a cozy mood, and this palette would be perfect for a sitting room or living room in which you want to relax. Crème Brulee, Chamomile, Biscuit and Beeswax can be spiced up a little with Brick Red and Rustic Brown for a cozy, country cottage look.

In the Streamlined Palette, you can create a sleek, stylish look, inspired by the Airstream trailers of the 1950s, and sure to create a striking look with Jet Black, Bright White, and Silver.

Finally, the Finishing Touches palette creates a luxurious feeling in a room, with lush, rich colors such as Cappuccino, Imperial Palace, Rich Gold, and Winetasting.

Whatever palette you're drawn to, for your own design or for your client, remember that you can play with it, adding to the colors listed or using just a few of them in concert. Or, you can use them to inspire your own palette, which will reflect your own individual resonance with particular colors, and which will allow you to fully express your design style.

RESOURCES:

You can visit Leatrice Eiseman's website at www.colorexpert.com.

Colors for Your Every Mood: Discover Your True Decorating Colors by Leatrice Eiseman (Paperback - September 2000)

Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color by Leatrice Eiseman (Paperback - September 2000)

The Color Answer Book: From the World's Leading Color Expert 100 + Frequently Asked Color Questions for Home, and Happiness by Leatrice Eiseman (Hardcover - November 2003)

–Sarah Van Arsdale

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