The pattern domain is scrambling….ever since it was announced in December . The predictions of what color will be choose this year offer enough chattering on the design blogs , panini shop , tattoo parlors , Starbucks and brewhouses from New York City , to Rio , that no one could really predict exactly what color out of the 256 tone might be the final succeeder . It could very well have been mustard greens , or coral , even Nimbus , but on December 9th ( gloomy to be SO late in herald this ) , thePantonecompany , the society that produces color swatches and colour chips for the creative and design communities , announced that the ‘ it ’ color of the year is in fact , Lonicera . Oops , I stand for ‘ Honeysuckle … (Pantone number 2120 ) . Now we can all rest .
Blogs everywhere are ‘ confirm ’ this option . But Google the words Honeysuckle flower , and what do you get ? Who take these names ?
The construct of a uncouth name of a plant as a color them is surely comical to many of us who are closer to the earth , but since we too work with colour , we understand the motive for some direction or tent pole to ground our ideas around . I suppose that we should consider ourselves fortunate that the vividness of the class was not ‘ Rose ’ , ( which would voice very old school ) , but ‘ Honeysuckle ’ ? Yeah .. perchance it , sounds more ‘ aphrodisiac ’ than , um , ‘ pinkish ’ , and ‘ Velthemia bracteata would clearly be too fancy for any people of colour expert . This selection , personally , feels expected . I intend , if I was asked to describe this color of the year option ? I would say that it was “ Susan B. Komen Ribbon Pink ” , nice , but if anything , annoyingly omnipresent .
Still , as plantspeople , we might all accord on one thing … . any Honeysuckle is hardley a ‘ choice ’ plant for our garden , unless it was some rare , wintertime - flower species like Lonicera fragrantissima ( still , rather unexciting outside of February ) . I ca n’t aid but imagine a WalMart plant department with black vinyl group pots and $ 6.99 Honeysuckle plants all mussy and scrawny … not exactly a noble pick for my garden . ‘ Honeysuckle ’ may conjure up a romantic image as a cutflower in the oculus of a young flower child who wants to prefer a paint chip for her bathroom in her Brooklyn brownstone , but as a spokescolor ? I ’m not so certain that it is the gloss I would pick out .
mayhap I take subject with the label more than the shade , but really … most Lonicera are weedy , aggressive shrub and vines and I do n’t have it away about you , but attributing a global trend to something as butch as a Kudzu vine on steroids may not be the best decision . Maybe it ’s the backstory that makes this selection that makes it so challenging ? In a “ back - alley - trailer - commons - dumpster - vine - brand - it big - in - NYC - sort - of - elbow room ; not unlike the success of a ‘ color reality show ’ , not unlike a winner from ‘ America Can Dance ’ or ‘ Hells Kitchen ’ . but is it sinewy enough to wear the pate ( and the vast responsibility ) of a ‘ color - of - the - mo ‘ ? For that matter , I enquire what color came in as runner up ? It just makes it operose to argue unless I know such facts .
I suppose that we should all be grateful that the experts on the color nominating committee passed over ‘ Euonymus alatus ’ , ( Pantone 806 florescent ) or any Berberis in its autumnal flush , ( a double strike of Pantone 806 ) . The last affair we need is another refrigerator container in the color of Fire Bush or a Berberis colored toilet scrubber , ( Pomegranate … .mmmmaybe ? But definitely not Berberis….eew . ) .
Since the big annunciation , design web log have been abuzz with a snow flurry of perfectly pink posts , most blogger seem to be taking anything that is ‘ warm coral pink ’ , and then attributing the recording label ‘ Honeysuckle ’ to it . So I sit back , and learn the crazyness , but wow , it is particularly ‘ half-baked ’ this meter , which has be wondering , have we as humans lost our colour range ? Why do designers ‘ demand ’ someone enjoin them what the color of the twelvemonth is ? Is n’t that their line of work ?
attend … some full revealing here … … I have spoken at invention conferences about purpose , especially on coloring material trends in the past , and I am color expert myself . I ’ve even presented along side Pantone ’s expertLeatrice Eiseman , ( a saucy and lovely lady ) who drives all of this in her business sector as a ‘ Full Service Color Consultant ’ ; so I ’m more that a little bit qualified to both joke about this , and to critique and examine it ; but aside from the factual influence that Ms. Eiseman cites , I ca n’t help but question the need for this announcement , since is n’t it a little ‘ sad ’ that we as a culture find the demand to select one single colour as ‘ color of the year ’ ?
Worst of all , her client will rejoice with her choice even though they do n’t ‘ wish pink ’ because after all , it IS the ‘ colour of the twelvemonth ’ and people will want it . And the result will affect you and me , the public , for we will find the air pressure to invest ANOTHER Kitchen assist stand mixer , this one , to match our new Honeysuckle kitchen tossing our 2010 gloss of the year , Turquoise , mixer into the recycling ABA transit number ( I ’m not certain what color - of - the - year that was ) .
It has been fun to confabulate the pattern web log who are celebrate this choice … .. just look at the Honeysuckle Madness … .. ( yes , it is pretty , but … )
On another annotation , as a plantsman , are n’t you confused with the semblance itself ? I thought honeysuckle was livid , or jaundiced ?
I am so illogical .
The theme of color labeling is tremendous enough for ten extra Post , but focusing on ‘ coast banksia ’ for a moment more … . let ’s divert ourselves , and Google it .
Hmmm . Is Honeysuckle pale pink ? Golden yellow ? crimson ? White ?
I always think it as pale yellow . And I am flummox to it .
gratefully , the figure community KNOWS what chromaticity and tint HONEYSUCKLE is , but I feel the need to go to the paint store now . All I make love now is , that I reckon that I should choose my own COLOR OF THE twelvemonth , what do you think ? Send me your suggestions , and I will post them !
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