EXPERT OPINION
BE INSPIRED BY COLOUR
Using the Colour Future Trends, which brings together 14 years of colour analysis, Dulux’s Marianne Shillingford looks at how consumers will be decorating their homes this year – from the paint on the walls to the home accessories and little details that complement the look
Shillingford says of the Colour Future Trends information. “We’ve just kept it in the bottom drawer until now.” Explaining how the data and trend insight is pulled together, she continues: “We have a colour team in each country looking at what’s happening in fashion, architecture and politics. We ask ‘what are the new artists and designers doing?’. “Then we bring these global experts together for three days in Holland. We take that info and look at how it will look in our homes and our businesses. “Out of that three-day workshop, we have one overarching global theme, 45 trend colours and one colour of the year.”
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Asked how long we can expect to see these trends in the market, she says: “Decorating is quite slow moving, so anything I tell you about now is for the next 18 months and will filter through the next three to four years.”
e’ve only been sharing this data with our customers for the past four years,” Marianne
Key trends There are number of key trends retailers can be capitalising on in terms of decorating techniques and shapes that carry over into homewares, housewares, furnishing and even garden products. “The power of copper is still here but is then migrating into gold, which will be big going forward,” says Ms Shillingford.
She continues, listing some of the top trends to watch out for: “The ombre effect, with blending, is really in. Colour blocking is also big this year, as well as graphic lines being created to frame colour. Circles are absolutely huge this year – they’re everywhere.” In terms of an overriding colour theme, Dulux has identified its colour of 207 as Denim Drift – an Indigo grey, which Ms Shillingford sys are particularly interesting. The success of the Dulux trend
forecasts is not just evident within the design industry but has proven popular with interior designers and homeowners alike. “Denim Drift is currently our fourth best-selling colour” explains Ms Shillingford. “When you consider that the paint
has only been on the market for three months and is only marginally behind our most popular, neutral tones, it is testament to our trend forecasting success. We believe that our colour forecasting not only drives demand for a particular colour palette, but that it truly reflects what the industry and customer needs.”
She goes on to explain the choice. “So, why is blue the colour of the year if we’re looking in a wider context? And, not any blue; indigo blue. “Blue is the world’s favourite
colour. We live on a blue planet. It is a connecting colour, a receding colour - it makes a space look bigger and there is an element of comfort to it. In times of uncertainty, we go for something we know – it is reassuring.” Having chosen its colour of the year, Dulux then develops a palette to go with it – “because one colour can be quite polarising,” says Ms Shillingford. The palettes of complementary hues include cleaner, more saturated, intense blues as well as greyed-out, smokier blues, which are more sophisticated and grown up. “Blue is super versatile,” she says, explaining the role colour has on
New Romanticism The visual appearance of green in this palette is almost neutral. It challenges the least. Violet is the most complex. There is a dynamic partnership of violet and green together in this trend. In Milan there were so many plants and succulents and a lot of wicker. Cheese plants have come back. Houseplants are absolutely huge again. The biggest amount of press we’ve had has been about this trend world. There’s a resurgence of incredible emerald greens. It’s going to be massive; really, really big!
Wicker macramé and spider plant hangers are part of the look, as well as soft mossy and warmer greens with shots of emerald as a tiny detail. Rather than have a feature wall, you now have pinstripe detail and a combination of warm and cool greens. It’s a bohemian, laid-back look – nothing matching but everything counting.
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consumer’s choices and purchases for the home. “Nobody buys paint in isolation – it’s part of a bigger scheme. That palette becomes part of something bigger for your customers and for you.”
Looking further at consumer behaviour, she adds: “We are starting to compartmentalise our lives into things we can control. In times of uncertainty we come back to the familiar, things we can control. “Young people are becoming very concerned with what we’re doing to our planet. They are starting to reconnect and do things with nature. They care about what happens next. It’s not YOLO (you only live once), so to hell with it – it’s now ‘make sure you make a difference’. “When we are in a time of financial stability, we are drawn towards neutrals and off-whites – all very muted. However, when something bad happens, the next year you will see bright palettes. The human spirit is drawn to colour. This year we have a real combination.”
Ms Shillingford details the four trend worlds identified this year:
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