What’s Your Color of the Year?

On this wintery New England day, I’m struck by the amount of gorgeous color there is around me. Despite the landscape being blanketed with a fresh dusting of snow and the woods appearing to be various shades of gray and brown, random colors both inside my home and outside in the garden are popping against this neutral backdrop.

As you may know, there is an entire industry centered around predicting world-wide color trends and promoting individual color choices. This includes everything from influencing the upholstery and carpet choices in an airplane (remember flying???) to the paint color palette of your next automobile. And what about fabrics? Threads? Even art quilts? You may think that your design decisions in your own studio practice are made entirely without the influence of the color industry, but that is very unlikely.

Pantone’s 2021 color of the year (actually, two hues: one yellow and the other gray) is a great example. Here’s what Pantone said in their press release announcement:

“Pantone, the global color authority and provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, today announced PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating, as the Pantone® Color of the Year selection for 2021, two independent colors that come together to create an aspirational color pairing, conjoining deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the optimistic promise of a sunshine filled day.”

Hmmm… where have I seen those colors recently, even before they were predicted by the global color authority, Pantone? How about all through recent issues of Quilting Arts Magazine??? Just in our June/July 2020 issue alone, I count six quilts that use either bright yellow or a soft neutral gray as their main hue, with our cover quilt beautifully incorporating both.

Who says that bright yellow and gray are the “it” colors of 2021? You do have the choice of making any color – or any hue – your own color of the year. Here are some great resources about using color, choosing color, and creating color, all available on our website:

Check out the Quilting Arts Podcast episode, “Color Confidential” with Luana Rubin – this was one of my favorite episodes because of the fascinating discussion and in-depth explanation of how the Color Marketing Group predicts trends.

Learn about Color and Technology in this blog post from designer Steph Skardal. The post also contains a link to her website where she shares a free interactive color tool that helps you choose solid fabrics from a dozen manufacturers… it is an invaluable asset and I use it whenever I’m looking for ‘just the right solid’ for a quilt.

Lastly, if you’re a SAQA member and haven’t yet joined the 2021 SAQA Seminar on Color, it isn’t too late. I’m learning so much and loving every minute of it!

So what’s your color of the year? Mine is warm raspberry, and I’m sticking with it.

Best,

Vivika Hansen DeNegre
Editor