The luminous ‘Colour of The Year’ 2018 is ‘Passion Flower’ along with the fascinating Busy Cool, Alchemy of Memories, Humane and Untamed as the four trends. This intriguing forecast is a result of a year-round scientific study, carried out by an expert panel of India’s top designers, architects, noted sociologists and advertising professionals. It involves thoughtful consideration and trend analysis while combing the world looking for new colour influences.
This year’s ‘Colour of the Year’, Passion Flower is a gold-tinged ray of hope, from the core of the earth to the core of one’s being. This grounded colour eludes an amber glow with warmth of openness that seeks the lucid, and triggers discovery. It is quietly receptive during the day and reflective in the shade. Passion Flower is indeed a colour that attracts and emits positivity with a spark in it.
The first trend of ColourNext 2018 is Alchemy of Memories which is about documentation of art, history and culture through people as a medium. It revolves around the generation that’s racing around making memories, along with realising that memories make them. It includes moody mauve and aqua punctuated by a fresh green and a pale grey which is almost like travelling across shades of time. A faded sheen of velvet and the natural tan of cedar wood elude a tell-a- tale surface that has evolved with time. Sometimes royal, sometimes bohemian, dreamy old spaces tell their own layered story.
The second trend is Busy Cool that is all about today’s hyper busy professionals showcasing their work on social media. This trendy palette brings together a plush purple for the pride in what the busy cool does, and a flamboyant red that their social media image is sometimes tinged with. A self-assured mauve is the anchor that tends to walk the thin line in between. Smart, efficient, dynamic and stylishly Instagrammable this trend is supported by solid surfaces and innovative textiles; something the busy cool unquestionably can’t do without.
With the technology overdose all around us, increasingly people are yearning for the touch of human emotions. The third trend is inspired by this very need of touch and warmth - Humane. Comprising of a grounded colour palette that traverses shades of earth, sand and soil, the colours in it reflect a longing to reconnect to what we are made of. It is inspired by materials that invite touch, like white oak which feels alive with its natural grain and texture. Polished copper and marble with its organic patterns, familiar checks and irregular patterns embrace the wabi sabi to create a space one can warmly sink into.
The common man’s acceptance of absurd and extreme mechanisms to convey a message form is the fourth trend, Untamed. Right from art and fashion to news and social protest, the unabashedly untamed has become a powerful medium of expression. This is where Untamed makes a statement. The colour scheme can be mixed and matched to create its own colour play across walls, furnishings and accessories. With bold and over the top fluorescent colours clashing with aplomb, absurd juxtapositions take center stage, lit up by the psychedelic. Polished surfaces reflect light like mirrors, as fibreglass meets dichroic film and faux fur meets onyx. This trend is a maximalist dream. Love it or hate it, you cannot ignore it.
Speaking on ColourNext 2018, Mr. Amit Syngle, COO, Asian Paints Ltd. said, “ColourNext 2018 is a fascinating process of mapping societal currents and décor trends. We make it as interpretative as it is intuitive; as diverse as the designers and cultural influencers that contribute to what has become the country’s most definitive decor forecast. It is in its essence, not a monolithic design diktat, but a fountainhead of inspiration, rich with all colours of opinion, emotion and experience.”
ColourNext2018 is beyond what’s trending, it’s a reflection of what’s needed in our world today.
