AzkoNobel's Colour for the year 2012, Juicy Ripe Berry Red.

As I said a couple of days ago, I have interesting news from AzkoNobel's Color Futures 2012. And here it goes. Colour of the year 2012 proposed by this Company is:

Font

Juicy  Ripe Berry Red!

This  lively and radiant colour is at once whimsical and serious,dynamic and soft, and in such a changing period of history reminds us not to look for simple solutions.

Color transitions

It evolves from paler tints of colours of previous years into something more confident to warm our hearts for 2012. I feel  we need that in such a troubled days we all are living!

"Within a palette of hues, red allows contrasting one colour, another to recede. Or it brightens a cool quality in the next one. It can change the game in an instant!"

A powerful mood modifier,red is held in high regard around the world for its many symbolic purposes. In China it is associated with good fortune; in India signals marital bliss... In many Western societies is the colour of passion, power and festivity. Children prefer it clearly and we grown-ups admire those who dare to wear red in public. It conveys value and meaning and is also used to alert us to danger.

Red family 2012

The KEY WORDS for the Red Family proposed by AzkoNobel are: BERRY, RIPE, ROMANTIC, EDIBLE.

It's KEY COLOUR is defined as " a deep-warm blush of pinkish, tropical red with a subtle hint of peach and a misty aspect... Quite a chameleon: reassuring or edgy, solft or bright, depending on what it is paired with."

Red's transition

"The intense fiery quality of 2011's red is toned down by a misty, dusky veil, making the new red slightly more enigmatic and versatile".

I can't but relate it to Pantone's 2011 Honeysuckle Pink  and think about it as a logical evolution. Pantone has not published it's chosen Colour 2012 but will do soon, I guess. In the meanwhile, I admit I fell in love with this Berry Red at first glance!

If you need to consult any question related to Color, feel free to contact me :)

NOTE: All the images shown here have been extracted from AzkoNobel's Color Futures 2012, linked at the beginning of this post. And written information has been quoted from there, sometimes literally, sometimes interpreted under my judgement. Therefore, original images and information belong to AzkoNobel. And this Blog Post remains propriety of the Blog's Author. You can quote and reproduce, only please recognize and be gentle to link back here! Thank you :)!

How Colour Trends are set

Colour Trends are set a minimum of three years in advance to a certain year, as many of you know. Trend setters work for great Trending Companies, establish trends according to many indicators and then follow the market to see which ones are early adopted or not. All kind of industries consult Color Trends Forecasting Books and Companies, so their products adapt to the market. This is how we see colours adopted and loved by costumers: they are made to enjoy them by industry. As Colour Marketing Group's tagline says, "Color Sells"!

Font

And as Frank H. Mahnke explains in his book "Color and Light in Man-made environments", psychological studies carried in a very serious way demonstrate we humans need colour in our lives. That's why we love it! And we also need variation to avoid boredom.

Font

That is where Trends come to make sense, as well as seasonal colour changes at our homes. 

I follow as many fonts as I can in order to know about Colour Trends. I love reading Mix Magazine from Globalcolor, they provide really good information that focuses in different markets. There are many other fonts of course.Then this is up to the Color Detective to make his, her colour work and choose. I'm working on my Colour Focus for the next months in 2011 and yesterday I came through this jewel: AzkoNobel Colour Trends 2012. I will come back soon with very intersting news on that!

Focal Art: Vitaly Geyman, Photographer.

I've mentioned before how thanks to the net I have become acquainted to wonderful people. This is how I met Vitaly Geyman, by the way.


Vitaly is an internationally published and licensed artist, devoted to photography.Born in the Ukraine, Vitaly spent the first twelve years of his life in Kiev, a colorful and culturally rich city replete with old cathedrals and large oak trees. At the age of twelve his parents decided to leave what was then the U.S.S.R, as political refugees. After spending time in Italy they immigrated to Australia where Vitaly spent his formative years. The beauty and vastness of Australia touched his heart and it is where he began his love affair with nature. However, it was not until his move to the United States in 2003 that he began to fully immerse himself in the art of photography.


It is Vitaly's belief that "great photographic art transports us into another dimension". His artistic journey is an ongoing exploration of the beauty, simplicity and wisdom of nature.Vitaly’s soulful, dreamlike fine art photography would suit perfectly any place you'd love to accent in your home, business or office.


I have chosen some of the prints he offers in Gliclee Art Prints from Art Prints America to show here. From his Flower  Prints this Sun Flower. Wouldn't it glow in a child's room, for instance?

Sun Flower II

Wouldn't that make a beautiful contrast with some kind of burgundy or wine red? I even would match it with a wider colour palette, a very whimsical one!

Clic on photos to enlarge and better appreciate colour palettes.

This is only one of many  possibilities...  Paler yellow and blues, more subdued reds and terracota or earth brown would work well here.

Vine Leaf Romance

From the  Fall Leaves Gallery this is one of my favourites, a color feast for one's eyes! What colour palette will glorify  it? Let's see...

These richer and more subdued hues would make the Art Print pop-up and create a sophisticated look for a room. The rest of elements, should coordinate with these. Bright red is the exception -II'd keep it for an accent.


Vitaly publishes White and Black photos on different themes. Among them, I have  chosen this gorgeous Magnolia Duet.

If you want to create a contemporary sophisticated look with White and Black Art, go for a dynamic palette that combines black and white with grays and a rich jewel hue  like one of these:

I have a strong preference for flowers, but you can find other Nature related themes in Art Prints America. You can create awsome focal points with Tree Bark Art Prints and you have Fall and Winter Art, together with Ocean and Waterfall Giclee Artprints.

In the following video, Vitaly explains what Giclee Art Prints are and why they are better quality ones:



And here he gives some valuable tips to shoot beautiful Botanical photos. I hope you enjoy them!

 

If you are willing to create a wonderful focal wall in your home, office, commercial or healthcare and need some help, feel free to contact me!

(Information provided by Art Prints America, to whom I'm not affiliated but yes very thankful for their letting me to create Color Palettes with their Giclee Art Prints.)

Mediterranean coastal architectural colour plaettes 1

This week I went to visit  Vilassar de Mar, a catalan coastal village. I've always been in love with our seashore resorts, I'm fond of their old summer villas and their colours. About a year ago I did something I was wishing to since long time ago. And I did it with the guidance of who has become my paint teacher, Mrs. Marina Berdalet. I dived into the Color World.

La Colorista

I also learned how to create Color Moods for Interior Design with Kate Smith. And thanks to my contacting many Color Consultants worldwide, I  came to discover how Architectural Color for Exteriors is so well worked out in other countries.

Back to my trip to Vilassar, I was fascinated by a collection of old beautifully painted villas raised in the late years of XIX th. century.  Lucky that I had my Android, for I hadn't thought of taking my cam! I shot plenty of photos, pretty enough to begin writing a series of posts on Architectural Color in Catalan coastal villages . Colours here are warm and luminous as our Mediterranean sea...

I will begin with this building, known as  Ca l'Amat, designed by an unknown architect.

Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011.

As you can see in the archs and can be checked in Wikipedia, this is a XIX th. century building, a historicist one, that mimics arab style. Sgraffitto and ceramic tiles are their more outstanding decorative characteristics.

Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011

We can see them around doors and windows. Their richness and chromaticity bring the memory of the broad heritage arabs left in Spain many centuries ago.

Isabel de Yzaguirre, 2011.

This is the rich colour palette that was used in this villa's façade: 

Colour palette by La Colorista

This palette has some luminous colours and some muted ones. They are typical in the Catalan Seashore villages and  were most used in the end of  the XIX th. and beginning of the XX th. centuries. They were usual in the period that we know as Modernisme Català, .

I will go on extracting colour palettes and will do a post about some fascinating doors and windows I saw, even if they are not straightly related with colour. Here is one of them, aside of which I left a testimonial of my visit to Vilassar.

IdY, La Colorista.

If you need an improvement or redo in you Architectural Colours, feel free to contact me. I will be happy to help you!