.Early winter has its magical qualities such as the tunnel of illuminated trees down Commonwealth Ave in Boston, getting to know your UPS man on a first name basis, having festive cocktails with rosemary and cranberry, and awaiting the reveal of Pantone's Color of the Year. This past December, I saw the announcement, forwarded it along to my design mates, and in an effort to provide some comical insight I added "It's a good year to be Kermit the Frog". For those of you who don't set tri-tone alerts on your email for this type of news like I do, the 2017 Pantone Color of the Year is "Greenery".Fast forward to May, watching the city sidewalks burst with pops of green, and suddenly the true symbolic meaning of this color for 2017 dawned on me. Amidst a global climate that seems increasingly troubling and confusing, we can take solace in knowing that spring still comes every passing year with a new sense of hope. Trees will be green again, flowers will bloom, and the world around us slowly comes alive again inspiring us to emerge from the solitude of hibernation, leaving comfort food behind, and allowing us to reconnect with the energy and vitality of the natural world. It's important (and much cheaper than therapy) to reset and rejuvenate, and because of "Greenery's" seasonal palette, this is the perfect moment for that reminder. My first reaction to this year's color was all wrong. I immediately questioned why people would go slather this color top to bottom in their home. But there's more to this color than refinishing your kitchen cabinets to look like an overly saturated banana leaf (I mean, go for it though!). It's finding balance in your life, building with sustainable materials, going off the grid for an hour and submerging yourself in a mountainous trail, getting lost in the visual intoxication of the world's colors and patterns, eating healthy, and designing with a fresh mind. Reset and rejuvenate.The study of color and trends has always manifested itself with great importance in my own development as a professional in design and building. You can say it's subjective all you want, but there are so many ties to color's influence on culture, science, design, human behavior and our emotions that make it an essential part of how we experience and interpret the world around us. I had the opportunity to attend an ABX Expo presentation for "Sherwin Williams 2017 Colormix Forecast" recently and my design salivation had never felt so restless. Four separate color themes were presented via slides of inspirational images to contemporary beats of trance-y music. From dark, moody and spiritual vibes (noir) to retro, sustainable and handcrafted urges (holistic), nostalgia and uncontrolled materials (intrepid) to natural intricacies and cultural migration (unbounded). The presentation transported me out of a residential design state of mind and into this world of infinite visual stimulation and connection. I think it's refreshing to come back to the roots of where design and artistic output stems from.I find irony that in a world currently divided, I also find division within our own design community. We look to trending colors and themes to stay current and significant. Every paint collection has its own color of the year... Ben Moore's allusively amethyst "Shadow", Sherwin William's cozy "Poised Taupe", Farrow & Ball's dusty "Peignoir", Krylon's metallic "Copper" (if you're looking for some DIY spray painting projects), and the list continues. Can't we all just get along? You can read blog posts and articles until your eyes roll back about life altering trends and which ones to ditch this year, but I think that is the best part about this industry: adapting to change. Adaptation while ultimately providing a safe haven for all of our emotions and needs.I've even recognized how I've adapted to my own needs and evolving adventurous lifestyle. If you had looked at my archives of design inspiration a few years ago, all you would see was black, white, and minimalistic details. Now here we are in 2017 and I've embraced the daring, vibrancy of color from my wardrobe to my kitchen island. In a desperate effort to bring life to the desolate winters we have in the Northeast, I sprinkled urban friendly plants all over my apartment to bring the outdoors in. And there you have it! A girl with a brown thumb embraces Pantone's color suggestion without even realizing it. I don't foresee my design restlessness abiding anytime soon.The deeper meaning behind this moment of reflection is to embrace diversity and the magic of the gift of sight. Reset and rejuvenate, no matter what color you see. Expand your peripherals to see why you really resonate with these colors. Make your own trends a reality. Without intentionally using this reference earlier, I realized that a small green frog insightfully sent the message (you know, in that simplistic banjo strumming song Rainbow Connection) that as humans, our motivation stems from this chasm between a dream world and the real world. Rainbows are inanimate yet whimsical, so they provoke us to explore and get out of our comfort zones. We are so lucky that we can do that.
