Each winter we breathlessly await the PANTONE Color of the Year (COTY) announcement with the gleeful anticipation of a child at Christmas. This year we are not disappointed with Living Coral (Pantone 16-1546) which is a vibrant pinky-peachy-orangey hue.
Thankfully, Brexit black and Gen Z yellow are out and the 20th Pantone Color of the Year embraces us with warmth and calls nature to mind.
As I’ve mentioned in other color posts, these days we are constantly being bombarded with electronic messages, news and social media and people are longing for the simplicity of basics. Pantone agrees with this sentiment but also claims their COTY choice will allow us (and brands) to have a “lively presence within social media.”
“Color enhances and influences the way we experience life,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. “As a shade that affirms life through a dual role of energizing and nourishing, Pantone Living Coral reinforces how colors can embody our collective experience and reflect what is taking place in our global culture at a moment in time.”
How to Use Color of the Year 2019 Living Coral
Living Coral is vastly different from 2018’s Color of the Year, which was Ultra Violet. While Ultra Violet is an imaginative color meant to push boundaries, Living Coral encourages both playful experiences and nurturing positive attitudes.
If you can remember back to 2015, you may be comparing Living Coral to Sherwin-Willims’s COTY Coral Reef or AkzoNobel’s Copper Orange While these colors are not as playful as Living Coral, at the time they were meant to be an approachable way to add color to our lives and reflect a positive outlook for the year ahead.
There’s something soothingly familiar but also exotic and adventurous about Living Coral that makes it a great accent for our interiors. You don’t have to go to extremes to incorporate this color into your home.
Coral may evoke sun and surf, but the shade works very well in this upscale nursery. This well designed space is a welcomed contrast to the stark Scandi and Mid-century modern nursery images plastered on social media.
If you love the current trend incorporating Zellige tiles – loved for coming in a whole range of rich, deep colors – you’ll be even more enthusiastic to mix in warm coral colored tiles.
Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression best expressed in the new form of maximalism that is taking root in fashion and interiors.
The new maximalism is a backlash to all hings unadorned – the sobering state of the world from economic issues to natural destruction from wild fires and floods gives rise to frills, fringe and a decidedly feminine aesthetic applied in a refined application for a modern look in the year ahead.
For more inspiration, visit my Pinterest Board on Color Trends.