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Last December, The Pantone Color Institute named Turquoise, one of my favorite colors, the color for the year 2010.
Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters an escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of well being.
With both warm and cool undertones, Turquoise pairs nicely with any other color in the spectrum. I love how it works with the very neutral gray that has been so much in fashion for the past couple of years, and it pairs well too with last year's mimosa yellow. It is an evocative, spa-like hue that adds an undertone of warmth and excitement to any cool space.
But it is not like Pantone discovered this hue. It has been long used by Martha Stewart as her signature color, Kitchen Aid launched the Martha Stewart blue collection in 2008 and almost every item in her Macy's collection is featured in this color, sometimes refered to as Araucana or Robbin's egg blue.
Turquoise has been Tiffany's brand color for years. The color is produced as a private custom color by Pantone, with PMS number 1837, the number deriving from the year of Tiffany's foundation. As a trademarked color, it is not publicly available and is not printed in the Pantone Matching System swatch books.
The beautiful picnic table with the chandelier was published in Veranda magazine on their summer 2006 issue. Turquoise blue is a favorite in cottage style interiors.
What the Pantone Institute (or any color forecaster for that matter) does is to point out that the color has reached its peak, that it is the right time to use it because it fulfills people's expectations or desires at the moment.
So how do they know whats coming next?
To find the next color du jour, Leatrice Eiseman and her team at the Pantone Color Institute traverse the globe. They frequent trade shows, follow the production of upcoming movies, and read everything from tech magazines to psychological studies. Fashion designers, of course, play a key role in determining color trends, and the institute relies on their input. The semiannual Pantone fashion color report surveys 50 top designers about what colors they'll be using for the upcoming season.
The state of the economy might have the largest impact on the colors consumers favor. When the market tanks, people often retreat to neutrals, Eiseman pointed out to Fortune Magazine on an interview last October.
And why turquoise?
"People are wanting someplace to go, somewhere to retreat to," Eiseman says. "the challenge was to come up with a color that speaks to how we can create a feeling of escape -- to get away from the problems of the everyday world. Even if it's a fantasy."
