Colour is an essential part of any design project, and this year Furniture News has invited the trend forecasting company behind Mix Publications, Global Color Research, to talk about a key colour for the current season each month. Although the company forecasts colour trends two years ahead of the season, this series of articles will focus on a colour of the month, taken from the Mix Trends forecast, which will bring relevant information to manufacturers, interior designers and any professional within the design industry. In this article, Hannah Malein presents soft grey…
Sitting within a harmonious set of tinted neutrals, soft grey represents a modest new luxury in the story of Reflect, a trend for spring/summer 2013. Here a new meaning of luxury is brought into question, as many feel time and happiness have become more important than material possessions, so emphasis is placed on building environments or interiors that calm your mood and create the ultimate sense of security.
We also see an increase in wellbeing solutions and products, recognising peace and quiet, and time to reflect, as a precious commodity in our hectic lives.
A peaceful and subtle approach is taken as muted neutrals and simple materials to create calm products that don’t distract the user and encourage us to fully engage in life. Reflect portrays ultimate tranquillity in colour, balancing this red-based grey with hues extracted from the natural world – a dusted fern green channels a relaxing ethos, and yellow and tan bring a hazy summer warmth to the palette.
“A peaceful and subtle approach is taken as muted neutrals and simple materials to create calm products that don’t distract the user and encourage us to fully engage in life”
A connection to the natural world remains central to this story, where organic forms are echoed in wicker and cane structures, and feathers and wispy grasses inspire delicate wovens or print designs. Gentle ombres and colour shifts bring interest to soft furnishings, whilst frosted glass and plastic bring an ethereal quality to solid surfaces. Reflected geometries and infinite mirrored surfaces evoke a new simplicity in a clever blend of the industrial and organic.
The colour grey is generally considered rather unemotional – we don’t tend to connect with it as we do with other colours. However, it can be very useful in design. It appears sleek and refined and gives a contemporary edge, especially when paired with more chromatic hues, like the yellow from the palette, which adds a sense of stability.
Soft grey, and a whole host of neutral tints, can be found on furniture pieces this year. The Different Trains cabinet designed by Matthew Hilton, and manufactured by De La Espada, combines natural wood with urban greys. Arketipo have also selected this contemporary hue for their Chesterfield-style armchair, where the pale fabric really emphasises the form.
Pair this key colour – soft grey – with dusted fern green, and a hazy yellow for an organic yet refined combination. For the full palette and ideas for its application, see a full presentation of the Reflect trend in Mix Trends spring/summer 2013 issue.
Hannah Malein is a colour trend consultant with Global Color Research, the company behind Mix Publications. Mix Trends and Mix magazine can advise of similar trend predictions up to two years ahead of the season. Sign up to the company’s monthly newsletter to receive the latest information on colour, trend and design.
