These are the house colours that you’ll be seeing everywhere in 2020

THE COLOUR OF THE YEAR IS…
The ColourNext initiative presents consumers with a comprehensive forecast of colours, materials, textures and finishes. But then ColourNext also identifies one colour to capture the essence of the time, labelling this hero as “Colour of the Year”.

For 2020, the Colour of The Year is “Curiosity”. It is a modern, clear shade of blue brimming with energy and inspired by azurite, the copper mineral that is marked out by its complex blue colour. It energises us with an optimism to persist, focus on our pursuits, and be the best version of ourselves. ‘Curiosity’ urges us experiment, be undeterred by failure, and keep going.

Besides the Colour of the Year, there are four trends that AP identifies that will form the overarching inspiration leading designers throughout the year. As the year unfolds, these colour trends become more evident across various design fields including architecture, interior design and decor, product design, textile design and more. Translated into colour palettes, the four trends for 2020 are:

A.   Potent: It translates into a colour story that is pure, clean and complete with a monotone palette and pops of contrast, including hues of green and coral in varying saturations.

B.   Mystique: This is about deep, mysterious hues made of the elemental colours of wood, earth, fire, sky and water. Think bright orange, blood red, midnight blue, black and dark brown.

C.    Blend: Playful, fun and fearless, colours in this palette include a blend of blue, purple-pink, yellow-green, faded cyan and grey.

D.   Sonic: Sound helps us relax, learn and energise. The greys and beige in this colour palette represent silence while the blue, pink and orange are about calm, joy and activity.

The forecast process begins months in advance. As part of it, Asian Paints maps consumer behaviour, consumption patterns, socio-cultural sentiments and lifestyle shifts. Then the ColourNext team goes into a huddle with experts from various fields, there are intensive workshops and many discussions. “This whole process sits at the crossroads between many things: emotion, data, social cultural movements, and then there’s the whole process of discussion, arguing and counter arguing that happens between all the institutional and individual advisors that we get on board. It is an inclusive and iterative process that takes almost a year and really makes everyone consider colour as an emotional choice,” says Srikanth SK.

All of that effort culminates in the family that is presented as the Colour Forecast.

But of course, the key is inspiration and application. As Asian Paints’ COO Amit Syngle puts it, “A trend uninterpreted remains just that —an unexplored possibility, an idea ahead of its time, a path less taken. But when keen minds imagine, decode and interpret trends, they become beautiful concepts, products, even objects d’ art!”

For homemakers, this presents the opportunity to look at a fresh array of colours in a new light. This is an opportunity for experimentation, for trying out combinations you didn’t consider before.