Every year, paint companies join hands with colour experts to reveal their picks, so here they are
A new year is the time for a new beginning, for new dreams and hopes, new ideas and philosophies. Most of us tend to take stock at the end of the year and figure out ways to be better versions of ourselves in the new year. While you’re doing that, perhaps your home also deserves a new look in 2022.
Each year, paint companies join hands with colour experts to reveal their picks for the shades and hues that best sum up the current period. Choices for a particular ‘Colour of the Year’ tend to draw on trends in fashion, tech, pop culture, and design — and what’s happening around the world.
Like every sector and industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge role to play in the colours chosen for 2022.
Pantone: Very Peri
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For the first time in the 22-year history of Pantone’s Colour of the Year, the Pantone Institute has created a brand new colour to represent 2022’s cautious optimism and the metaverse.
Very Peri is a “dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a vivifying violet red undertone that blends the faithfulness and constancy of blue with the energy and excitement of red”. Designed to evoke the glowing touchscreens of the digital world and the creative possibilities of the future, the colour is “symbolic of the changes taking place in the world right now, following an intense period of isolation and uncertainty”.
“It’s unusual to refer to blue as ‘happy,’ but when you add that red element to it, that’s exactly what happened,” says Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the institute. “We felt it was so important to put together a colour that encapsulated the feeling of newness.”
“The [colour] reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are looking for that [to] answer,” said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute.
Sherwin-Williams: Evergreen Fog
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In a year that’s again been dominated by the pandemic, Sherwin Williams’ choice is a versatile and calming hue, a “chameleon colour of gorgeous green-meets-grey, with just a bit of blue”. Evergreen Fog is a simple but sophisticated organic colour that promises calm and comfort.
“Evergreen Fog is a sophisticated wash of colour for spaces that crave a subtle yet stunning statement shade,” said Sue Wadden, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin-Williams, in a press release. “Evergreen Fog inspires us to begin again and is a great choice for modern interiors and exteriors.”
She even offers suggestions: complementing the colour with warm, earthy neutrals, such as beige, camel, or coffee brown, and bring in additional layers of texture with natural materials such as wood, leather, jute, and rattan. Those keen to incorporate some glam, add metal finishes like “warm brass, light gold, or matte black”.
Another option from the paintmaker is Aleutian by HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, which stands for comfort and relaxation. The washed-out indigo has a slightly warm undertone and offers a balanced, restful tone. Paired with a larger 2022 colour collection called Softened Refuge, it is intended to create “a sense of comfort and calmness with colour”.
Glidden: Guacamole
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Green would be it, decided PPG’s experts after numerous studies on the global impact of the pandemic. Online searches for green paint colours have more than doubled since 2020 — an indicator that “homeowners want rejuvenation and regrowth from their spaces”.
Glidden’s pick is Guacamole, a ripe avocado-green that aims to be relaxing and refreshing. “We’ve all saved beautiful green kitchens and earthy-inspired bedrooms on our Pinterest boards and TikToks over the past year and a half, driven by our need for calm, regrowth, and rejuvenation after living through these ‘unprecedented times’,” said Kim Perry, Glidden paint colour guru. Guacamole aims to help achieve it!
Behr: Breezeway
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Renewal is what we are all looking for, and popular paint brand Behr has made its choice: a cool, refreshing shade of green. Breezeway is a “silvery green shade with cool undertones”, a versatile colour that is inspired by natural beauty and reminiscent of “dreamy sea glass found along sandy beaches and the crystal-clear water of a tucked-away bay”.
The soft, silvery blue-green creates a feeling of peace and tranquillity, but can also be combined with other hues and palettes to encourage a sense of energy and liveliness.
Erika Woelfel, Behr’s Vice-President of Colour and Creative Services, said Breezeway was “a colour that welcomes a hopeful sense of renewal, restoration, and healing.”
PPG: Olive Sprig
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Yet another shade of green makes it to the Colours of 2022 list! PPG’s pick is a soft, organic shade of green called Olive Sprig. The grey-green shade, which harks back to a “soothing aloe vera plant or velvety sage leaves”, was “chosen to represent regrowth and the resiliency of nature” as we adapt to new ways of living post-pandemic.
“As many of us know, following a year of lockdown, the easiest way to shift your mindset is to change your environment,” said Amy Donato, PPG Paint’s Senior Colour Marketing Manager. “Call it rebellion, but we are certainly here for the resurgence of optimistic colours to guide us into a new era of home design.”
The mid-tone, neutral, lush green has an organic green undertone and works wonderfully with natural materials and textures.
