A couple of years ago I had the privilege of hearing the impressive Leatrice Eiseman speak at a design seminar in Cape Town. Eiseman is an amazing, inspiring American colour trend forecaster and design consultant, and is also the executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute. Like many, I have a bit of a fetish for the Pantone colour matching system; those iconic fan decks of luscious colour and all the merchandise spin offs such as the printed cups, the iPhone covers, the fold-out chairs, the storage boxes… hoo boy, I’ll stop there.
Love these iPhone covers.
A morning perk.
Houston, I have a problem.
Anyway, each year the Pantone Institute reveals a Colour of the Year chosen to resonate with the universal mood of the time, and 2012s colour is Tangerine Tango (Pantone 17-1463). ‘There’s the element of encouragement with orange,’ Eiseman says (she’s got a background in psychology, by the way). ‘It’s building on the ideas of courage and action, that we want to move on to better things. Tango in particular is hopeful and optimistic, marrying the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow while maintaining a quality of sophistication’ says Eiseman.
Well, I love orange – it’s a strong, vibrant colour which makes me feel upbeat and happy – but I haven’t quite recovered from my mother’s 1970s orange kitchen (sorry, no pic of that horror to post!) so it’s the one colour I’ve always been a little shy about using in my home. I’m never sure how to incorporate it into an interior, to be dead honest, and so have been recently looking to the interwebs for a little inspiration…
I like the eclectic feel of the mismatched chairs (via Living Etc)
Such a great little space to have breakfast in, and a touch of black & white always works for me. (via Living Etc)
I love the way this stylist has used orange as an accent. Would work beautifully in my home (also via Living Etc)
Strong, but I could live with this appetite-stimulating hue.
Gutsy mix of pink and orange. Works for me.
Works well as an upholstery colour *hint, hint Marianna...
For now I’ll go with using it as an accent colour (there’s a vivid orange cabinet that has my name on it) but I’m blown away by the styling in some of the pics above, especially where the stylist has used pattern and colour with such confidence. Hope you are too. Enjoy!
Julia
