Color Association Executive Highlights Hues of the Future

Furniture World Magazine

Christine Chow, director of membership for The Color Association of the United States, presented a fast-paced color forecast on January 29, 2007 the first day of the Winter 2007 Las Vegas Market. During the Colorwatch Seminar, Chow spoke about the latest colors, textures and fabrications that will impact the home furnishings landscape, and explained how these trends will shape buyers’ purchase decisions in the coming months. Be they fashion trends or home trends, color is inter-linked, Chow said. The outside is coming inside as nature influences a palette of moss greens, browns and stone grays that are aged and weathered. Hot accent colors include kabuki reds and sky blues. For 2008-09 color sources are coming from the Far East, Indian Market and the New England Shores. We are seeing aged neutrals, landscape blues, greens and ivory and also scarlet and sky blue accents. Home décor trends continue to mimic fashion trends. For example, Christian Dior’s haute couture collection for Spring 2007 is geisha-themed. And indigo is the new black, giving way to deeper blues. Deeper purples and purple-tinted browns are more sophisticated and intense. A Japanese theme is reflective of sober, refined plums, purples and olive greens. Metallics continue as a new neutral. Today’s metallics are not flashy, but aged or patinaed, brushed, hammered or woven in hues of brass, pewter and copper. Metallics will be big in 2008, Chow said. “It’s not a trend, but a new neutral.” The new cultural mood reflects a new optimism with more realism and less escapism. Full-spectrum color has been proven to make people feel happier and more energetic. Expressionistic colors evoke bold emotions and lush colors. Chow pointed to Nama Rococo wallpaper studio as an example of dramatic styles that are coming into vogue. Another trend is sophisticated preppy with moody mid-tones of classic camel, teal, grass green and brick red. In outdoor fabrics we will see unexpected color combinations, organic prints and patterns. Besides the home, there is a fashion attitude toward multi-color in interiors evident in a new wave of boutique hotels and Indian influences are leading to lively hues with an earthy, warm feeling, such as olive with brown, pink with orange. “Color impacts us on levels both conscious and unconscious,” Chow said. She spoke about color combinations, adding, “Colors cannot exist alone.” Chow said the new emphasis on multi-color designs is reflected in an exhibit at the San Francisco Museum by Alexander Girard that runs through February 25. Chow also spoke about how color can be interjected in the home in unexpected ways, using the example of functional items that have become decorative accessories, such as Apple Computers’ iMacs. The Winter 2007 Market runs through February 2, 2007. The Summer 2007 Market is scheduled for July 30-August 3, 2007 at World Market Center Buildings A and B and Pavilions and July 31-August 2 at Sands Expo Center. World Market Center is an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishings showroom and convention complex in Las Vegas. When fully built, at 12 million square feet in 8 buildings, World Market Center will be the largest trade show complex in the world. The 12 million-square-foot campus will be completed by 2013 and will showcase furniture, decorative accessories, lighting, area rugs, home textile and related segments, as well as the Las Vegas Design Center (LVDC) open year-round to the trade. The second building opened this week; officials are now leasing the third building to a broad cross-section of the home furnishings industry. For more information on Las Vegas Market, and to find out about leasing or exhibiting opportunities, visit the website or call 888-WMC-SHOW (962-7469).