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Articles by Chris A. Paschke, CPF GCF

"Color & Art Trends 2024"

January 2024

We look forward to design, color and art trends being announced at the beginning of any new season or calendar year, but they actually happen continuously around us every day. These trends include principles of design elements of space, line, form, light, color, pattern and texture which—if done well—create a balance in home design as well as art and framing.

Minimalism in spaces remains prevalent. Ceramics, curly wool, sandstone, raffia, raw wood are all strong naturals this year. Brass will be seen on furniture legs, lights, vases, and art. Glass in all its forms is essential, with frosted and transparent glass being joined by colored or tinted glass. The most popular interior colors still include classic blues and greens, earthy shades, and light pastels. Muted natural shades remain relevant, but saturated, acid colors, dark tones, bold combinations and contrasts are gaining popularity. Gray is around, but not as a featured color this year.

Curvy furniture—not only the front, but backs, arms, sides with the overstuffed appearance—and all with heavily textured, nubby, bouclé, and velvet being seen. The push is toward warm, comfort.

Trend Impacting Art

Texture remains a huge catalyst for wall decor with minimalist monochromatic, geometric, textural art as canvas paintings, prints, and colored serigraphs. Dense neutral freeform abstractions of white, beige, and brown; black, white and gold; and dense color combinations with geometric composition are all being seen. Abstract art abounds with swirls, splatters, and line art shapes, with three dimensional wall art being important this year, from sculptures to heavy impasto. (Photo 1) Naturalistic landscape and seascape art remains strong, providing a peaceful refuge from daily issues, but altered abstracted land and seascapes are also popular.

Area Rugs and Wallpapers

Decorative area rugs have been making a splash this year and continue to rival wall art for attention, but wallpapers have been fighting back with art expanding to cover full accent walls, ceilings, and stair risers. (Photo 2-3 Leftbank Art) Stimulated by the impact of wide format printing, art is more often transitioning into wallpaper, available as flat paper, canvas with poly coating, and soft texture vinyl for commercial applications. New 2024 trends include themes of Abstraction of all kinds; Metallics; Geometry as graphic patterns to Art Deco influences; Botany, everything from small flowers to tropics; Asian, landscapes, pagodas, and white cranes; Fauna, including birds, monkeys, marine themes, and children's art; and Textures.

Paint Colors of the Year

Colors of 2024 are driven by nature, sustainability, health, and modern technologies. The classic blue and navy blue of a dusk sky are tranquil and calm. Dark green is another color emanating balance and security. Earth tones will be seen across the board, much like minimalism. Classic whites, beiges and creams are great for walls while upholstery, carpets, textiles, and accents will use light pastels of mint, light yellow, dusty pink, and light purple. (Photo 4)

Warming Neutrals

Designers predict that whites with warm undertones like vanilla, off-white, and cream will be strong, while cool whites, grays, and cool-toned neutrals will lessen in popularity. Neutrals will warm up off-whites and buttery tones like Glidden Limitless predict these colors will provide an energized yet solid base to color palettes. And Sherwin Williams HGTV Persimmon is a sandy peach with neutral undertones. "When we talk to designers, a lot of them mention that LED (daylight) lighting really impacts color, making things much cooler," explains Sue Wadden, Sherwin-Williams Director of Color Marketing. "So, you see the rise of warmer colors when you have to sort of counterbalance all that coldness." And as for green, Graham & Brown (UK) Viridis is a sage tone that functions as a neutral alternative to greige schemes.

Darker Tones

Another warm, earthy tone being featured is brown. From mushroom brown to taupe, mocha, and espresso, you'll see brown everywhere this year, including Farrow & Ball (UK) London Clay, and Little Greene (UK) Ganache. Popular darker tones are Behr's Cracked Pepper, and Dutch Boy Ironside--both sleek and refined with darker shades of green. These are more popular over light and pastel tones for small accents like a painted vase, picture frame, accent ceiling, or painted cabinets.

Pinks and Reds

With the rise of decor trends like Barbiecore, and colorful maximalism, decorating with shades of pink and red are popular. These warm, energizing hues are ideal for infusing color into any space from deep, rich burgundies to cherry reds to hot pinks, there's a shade of red for everyone. "Our residential side cannot seem to shake the love of pink with Renee Stramel continuing to be a best seller. While and on the commercial side our projects have moved to moodier tertiary colors like warm ambers, and muddy plums. But our bolder design projects are all about the green," says Kate Maass, Chief Creative Officer, Grand Image. (photo 5)

Blue and Teal

Blue is a classic color that is equal parts earthy and sophisticated depending on the shade. In addition, it's known for having a calming effect when used in interior design. Color trends are favoring blue this year with Sherwin-Williams Upward, C2 Thermal, Benjamin Moore Blue Nova, Minwax Bay Blue (stain), Dunn-Edwards Skipping Stones, and Valspar Renew Blue featuring blue to blue-teal as their COTY. Between the above darker tones and the blues you'll find new art from coastal themes to abstractions fitting into numerous interior trends. (photo 6)

WGSN/Coloro

WGSN's trend forecasting couples with Coloro—a global color system that offers physical and digital solutions to ensure color accuracy—choosing colors for the company's worldwide forecasts. Apricot Crush has been noted as WGSN 2024 color of the year, being full of hope and positivity with restorative attributes. Intense Rust is a warm, rich brown balancing luxury with a raw, earthy edge. Midnight Plum is a powerful dark—close to black—purple that connects to themes of space exploration and the metaverse. Sustained Grey is a warm grey neutral representing practicality and reliability, while Cool Matcha is a tinted calming green with a therapeutic quality between vegetation and pastel. (photo 7)

Trend Style + Color = Art

Abstract art remains strong as ever with geometric blocks of color and line art dominating. Neutral minimalism with beiges and warm browns are edging out gray. Themes and colors featuring browns, beiges, light to medium blues, and soft blue-greens are all favored. Gold and brass are also in demand.

”Tonal Textures are tone-on-tone artwork employing a monochromatic color palette relying heavily on texture to create depth, interest, and a sense of dimension within the art. Impasto, Sgraffito, collage, and even adding materials like sand can create a dynamic surface. The Wildflower home decor trend is characterized by a vibrant and uplifting color palette embracing floral prints on textiles, wall art, furnishings and wallpapers. And Simplistic Silhouettes takes its cues from Henri Matisse's iconic cut-out paper collages, featuring bold, organic silhouettes, where use of negative space is a key element," says Moira Hershey, Art Director and Senior Designer, Wild Apple. (photo 8)

Color & Style Impacting Framing

Matboard and moulding companies continue to modify and launch new colors into their inventory as new trends demand, with neutral remaining at the top of the list. Angela Gomez, Product Manager Matboard at Crescent Brands LLC shared her comments, "Trends for 2024 appear to be a combination of comforting spa-like tints as well as joyful jewel tones, with raw, earthly organic textures and fine weaves for a more Minimalist/Scandinavian design style. We should see tactile, textured, and rich-hued colors in combination with bold prints for a more Art Deco approach. (photo 9)

Metallics are strong for both wood mouldings and metals. Nielsen Tuscan Linen has both texture and color; Studio Moulding is showing metallic and woodgrain in their Cascade and Elements collections; and as well as Decor Moulding and Supply's Stella in three metallics.

Moulding companies also strive to stay viable and give designers what is needed for new and emerging styles. Textures in new moulding releases are both visual and tactile, from Wall Moulding's Madame to Framerica's Cathedral Greige, with natural colors and materials in furniture as stimulus, as seen in the new release Nurre Caxton Colonna collection. "Art Deco is back, with a newly softened look. Mid-century Modern (Retro) and Scandi design have merged for a clean and natural aesthetic that is at once minimalist and warmed. Rustic has morphed into a sophisticated casual look with metal, twine and rattan detailing," says Sue Losco, Director of Product Management, Crescent Brands LLC. (Photo 10)

Final Trend

If I had to sum up the trends in three words it would be neutrals, curves, and textures.

END
Copyright © 2024 Chris A Paschke

For more articles on mounting basics look under the mounting section in Articles by Subject.
Additional information on all types of mounting is found in:
The Mounting and Laminating Handbook, Second Edition, 2002,
The Mounting And Laminating Handbook, Third Edition, 2008 and
Creative Mounting, Wrapping, And Laminating, 2000 will teach you everything you need to know about getting the most from your dry mount equipment and materials as an innovative frame designer.

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Chris A Paschke, CPF GCF
Designs Ink
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