Color Forecast: Consumers Looking for Inspiration

Las Vegas, NV, Jan. 30, 2008—Pantone Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman presented a forecast of color trends during the Winter 2008 Las Vegas Market last week. She previewed what she called one of the most directional furniture palettes in the ever-evolving home furnishings palette.

She said consumers today have dramatically different lifestyles and look for inspiration in design, color and style.

“Style is not a four letter word,” she said, referring to generous, inventive and highly stylized use of color on everything from chairs to kitchenware. “In real estate it’s all about location, location. In color it’s context, context,” she said.

Television decorating shows and even movies raising the expectations of consumers regarding colors. “Color makes the biggest impact and gets the eye to pay attention.”

Fashion and global trends are also strong precursor to what will show up on home furnishings. Environmental issues area also spurring green beyond a color trend. Blue is the most popular color with consumers and crosses over into many home decorating areas in shades of pinks and purples.

Forecasters are saying that yellow is the new orange, but Eiseman said while yellow is making inroads into the color palette, orange will not go away, at least for the next couple of years. Many shades of green are prominent and are beyond a color trend

Brown is hot, changing from dirty to rich and robust, in what Eiseman calls the Starbucks phenomenon. Browns are also being paired with other colors in edgy ways, like brown and fuchsia. Black remains hot and there has been a big return to gray. Adaptation of animal prints will continue on in vogue.

Metallics are hanging on longer than many in the industry would have expected, Eiseman said. Finishes have been reworked so it’s not just a bright gold or silver but patinas. Metallics, too, are showing up in many furnishings, with technology and advances in fabrics as the great enabler.

According to Eiseman, a major challenge in today’s marketplace is satisfying consumers’ or clients more demanding perceived needs and desires in both styling and color. They are looking beyond a simple matching process to colors they can instantly ‘connect’ with, suit their personal comfort level and excite the imagination. At the same time, there is the practical need to connect to products or settings they already own.