Pantone's 2013 Color of the Year - Emerald

Heading towards the cooler end of the color wheel Pantone has chosen Emerald as it’s pick for 2013.

Not a color to recede or take a back seat in vibrancy, Pantone 17-5641 makes a bold statement like it’s predecessor Tango Tangerine.

Where Tango Tangerine was meant to wake-up and energize, Emerald’s glow sends a more ethereal message of well-being and balance.

Considered a highly fashionable color to use in the 18th century two forms of verdigris, was painted on the walls of two dining rooms in George Washington’s home—Mt. Vernon. Most often seen as a byproduct or “corrosion” seen on copper, verdigris was used in Pompeian frescos, during the Middle Ages in oil paintings, and extensively in the monastic environment as a pigment for illuminated manuscripts and books. 

The “new room” (dining room) is the largest,
most public, and most elaborately decor-
ated room at Mount Vernon.

Washington believed the color to be ...‘grateful to the eye’ and less likely than other colors to fade. Verdigris and even prussian blue were valued by the upper classes for the bold statement they made. Since paint was expensive, the most brightly painted rooms were reserved for entertaining and show.

I believe we’ve (wrongly) been conditioned to think only of muted colors for this time period. Having visited Mt. Vernon, I can attest to the shocking intensity of the walls when you first look at them. Washington made a conscious choice to not only paint the “new room” but another smaller dining room and as an accent color in a parlor. A striking visual declaration then that can possibly be channeled now into the present-day enclaves of fashion, industrial and graphic design.