careful balance of knowledge and sensibility,” Enberg added. “Perhaps it is
for this reason that many, sadly, stick
to safe options.”
However, attitudes have in recent
years witnessed a slow change, thanks
in part to the global melting pot of cultural influences opened up by the ability to travel and by technology. “In the
U.S., the change is color coming from
the minority populations and we’re
seeing a lot of Hispanic influences,”
said Khosla.
From her base in Mumbai, Freedom
Tree is in a privileged position to view
some of the most exciting areas of color
use in the architecture and design sector coming from Asia. “We always have
an eye on Asia as a source of inspiration for design and architecture. There
are at the moment wild and very vivid
colors emerging from India, China and
South Eastern Asia,” Khosla said.
Balancing this vibrancy at the
moment is a more reserved and conservative aesthetic, also stemming
from Asia. This seems especially rife
in the hospitality industry and in
communal areas. “A new take on
grays that are more Asian-inspired
include warm grays with yellow
undertones,” Khosla added.
In order to capitalize the coatings
industry must follow the lead of the
architecture and design fields and
evolve with the industry to meet its
color needs, especially where listening to and responding to trends are
concerned.
Decorative paint is one of the most
compelling sectors, proving that trends
are important to all industries,”
according to Nash. “Trends drive fashion and fashion drives interiors,” she
said. “Admittedly there is a little more
to it than that but that is a large factor
in the changes we track and identify.
“Decorative paint consumers are savvy
and aware of what the trends are and
need therefore to be alert to them and
react quickly. The companies who
respond best to the needs of the customer and cater to them are the companies who have the most attractive
bottom lines.”
Responding to and identifying the
needs of consumers is a factor linking
all forms of design and industry in
these times of reduced spending.
Clients are expecting much more for
their money and will not accept a shoddy ‘almost’ or closest match where
color is concerned.
For MIX Interiors, a leading magazine for the UK office interiors market,
Nash’s color forecast addresses color
trends up to 24 months in advance of
the season, with findings based and
grounded in the specialist experiences
of a selected panel of colorists, designers, architects and material specialists
from across the design industry. MIX
Interior’s trend stories are not only
built around the emotive power of color
but also identify areas of legislation
and technological advances, which will
drive the options a consumer is likely
to have. Cheaper pigments in a specific color, finishing techniques from the
ceramics industry, the expanding use
of Corian as an exterior surface and
elements of car design have all been
addressed in previous issues.
At the moment panel meetings are
driven primarily by one piece of legislation. “The economic situation has the
focus at the moment but it is never one
thing that is the driver,” said Nash.
“Legislation in the paint industry concerning the phasing out of volatile
organic compounds (VOC) will affect
color selection.”
Reflecting this switch, German color
company RAL has recently developed a
special selection of colors, which can be
easily replicated from water-based techniques. Plus, the news that water-based
paints and coating solutions can be
classed as regular rather than commercial waste in some countries is something contractors are looking at as a
way to keep carbon footprints low during a development while saving money.
“We actually preempted the introduction of VOC regulations for our customers,” said Tomas Hård, CEO of
Scandinavian Color Institute, home of
the Natural Color System (NCS). “NCS
was the first of the color systems to
recognize a potential change in the
market and in 1995 ensured all its
color samples (swatches) were lead-and cadmium-free and used only EU-approved pigments.”
As with many environmental advances, Sweden was leading the way
even in the color sphere. At the same
time it switched to a new color formulation for its color samples, the Color
