What is the color of the year and why is it relevant? Is there just one? Under the heading of nothing is as simple as it sounds, there are multiple answers to these questions. Color of the Year, as announced by the Pantone company annually in December, is a relatively new phenomenon that began in the year 2000.
The Pantone announcement doesn’t just relate to house painting, but rather is an analysis of past color trends in industries including fashion, marketing, and business, as well as the mood of the culture, influences in the environment, for products and design, and a prediction (although some would say, this announcement drives the market) of what color will be relevant for the following year.
This annual event originated as a way to generate excitement about color. And the paint companies soon followed suit, announcing their own colors of the year. Basically, it’s all about marketing and P.R. But it’s also A LOT of fun to witness the reveals.
We also want to direct you to herein to projects in our portfolio that are similar to the selections being highlighted by Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore this year.
Note that the paint company colors tend to have almost no relation to Pantone’s announcement, visually, but rather are relevant to what has been trending in the design industry, specifically. Pantone’s color choice tends to have a direct bearing on consumer goods and fashion, including what colors the iPhone will be available in, for each year.
We like to use the annual announcements as an opportunity to reflect on the jobs in our portfolio where that color has been successful for us in the past.
Sherwin Williams selected a shade of teal ("Agean Teal") that is somewhat similar to this very popular kitchen cabinet project, color specification and interior design by LMB Interiors: Hillsborough Kitchen Remodel
And Benjamin Moore's "Urbane Bronze" is quite close to the colors famed designer John Wheatman selected for the exterior and basement of this august, North Berkeley home: Berkeley Basement Dig-Out
For our designer colleagues and for our homeowner clients, we see the annual announcement as a point of consideration — to explore the different feelings that the color might evoke, and a point of inspiration, an opportunity to make changes — as a professional retiring an old stand-by go-to color, or as a homeowner deciding to refresh a space.
Did you know? Arana puts together a book for interior designers each year about the paint companies’ announcements and the impact, which is available for download on our website in the resources section. Click here to view/download our 2021 Colors of the Year Guide.