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Interiors 2011-12

The Color Association’s 2011-2012 Interiors/Environmental Forecast presents two distinct color stories this year, the cool blue-green story of Island Zen and the hot red and orange story of Global Artisan, balanced by the ultimate neutral story Urban Grit.

This season’s Interiors/Environmental palette focuses on embracing a modest, honest, and humble lifestyle, while veering away from the opulence that defined American society over the past decade. As natural elements and materials continue to be at the forefront of design, we begin to embrace the idea of “craft as luxury”. There is a shift from shiny, bright metallics to subtle, quieter metals, such as bronze, copper, tinted silvers, and burnished golds. Woods need not be stained or varnished but can be admired in their natural colors or burnt for a warming effect. Americans will move beyond the high-gloss, lustrous finishes, in keeping with their new unpretentious outlook. This new definition of luxury stresses the usefulness and purpose of design from the surface through to the back-end. Finding beauty in imperfections is at the heart of the forecast and translates to a refined palette that is concurrently timely and timeless.

GLOBAL ARTISAN

The Global Artisan concept stems from The Color Association committee’s discussion of working with artisans in emerging economies, with a strong emphasis on South America. Family or women based businesses within vulnerable communities, who utilize materials from their surroundings, are represented within this story by our textured colors; ranging from the raw—including “Papyrus”, a fibrous light brown with red undertones, the rough and woven green-beige “Husk”, and the soft light beige cotton “Spun”—to the handcrafted—including the marigold auburn silk “Altar”, “Aji”, an orange-red with a light pink thread design, and the dusty mid-tone violet purple felt “Aura”. It is in the work of these craftsmen and women that we see the beauty in the imperfect; imperfection is nature’s perfection. The saturated, vibrant reds and oranges used in this palette, such as our deep scarlet red “Sangria” and the low-value orange “Perinone”, are redolent of the traditional pigments used by these cultures. Purples remain relevant, compared to our 2010 forecast, have been lightened and have taken on a reddish cast, such as our lightly-tinted “Persian Lilac” and the lower-valued deep eggplant “Brinjal”.  Overall, this palette is seen as strong and will continue for the next few years.

URBAN GRIT

In keeping with last year’s format, the neutrals of Urban Grit are centrally placed as the foundation for the palette, adjoining the warmer hues of Global Artisan and the cooler hues of Island Zen. This story evokes not only the ruggedness of any urban environment, but the growing presence of global industrial innovation and technology. The grays on the palette range from the sleek blue-gray “Concrete” and “Smoke”, to the darker “Steel”, the brownish gray “Iron”, and the greenish gray “Shale”. Black is introduced into the story—with a jet black “Tar” and a grape black “Soot”—depicting the two elements a city simply could not be considered a city without. While grays remain dominant, whites and taupes have gained prominence—such as the dark beige “Cobble Stone” and the yellow undertoned cream “Bulb”—mediating the palette with their neutral lightness. On the other hand, our charred brown “Track” with strong red undertones and the burnished copper “Alloy” harmonize the palette with their strong, rich neutral darkness.

ISLAND ZEN

Island Zen contains a vibrant mix of blues and greens. The importance of the contrast between the very pale and the very dark is a statement defined by the forecast as a whole. It can be seen within the green color story, ranging from the light, serene “Beach Glass” with a turquoise undertone, to the mid-tone, grassy “Matcha”, and the murky brown-green “Marsh”. Green is universally accepted as a neutral that can be used with anything and is well represented in the palette, but there is a clear move towards blue in interiors and environments. The oceanic mid-tone “Mykonos” and dark teal-blue “Deep” are Mediterranean cool and complemented by the radiant citron “Limonada” yellow.

NOTES:  Each forecast is generally comprised of a working, harmonious palette; colors are arranged for at-a-glance reference of useful combinations and groupings. The packet of extra swatches is to help the member select and assemble his or her own color combinations and to be used as a standard for reproducing the colors.  The color names are purely descriptive and are to be used only in such manner.

The liability of The Color Association for any errors or omissions in the printing, preparation or distribution of this color card, or for any other cause, is limited to the cost of this card and the card is accepted subject to this condition.

While the greatest care is exercised in producing electronic representation of our colors, we cannot guarantee or be held responsible for absolute matches or color duplicated or in color reproduced in different materials, as it is sometimes impossible to avoid slight variations.  When ordering actual color swatches, please provide the category, year, color name, quantity required

This report is for use by the member only and cannot be reproduced by any method without written consent by The Color Association. The reproduction of the forecast is strictly prohibited.  Images may only be used for personal or internal corporate purposes and the images may not be commercially reproduced or distributed in any context.