Pantone's Color of the Year 2014: Radiant Orchid

The color pendulum swings toward a warm vibrant color choice for the upcoming New Year. Radiant Orchid possesses friendly warm overtones that allow it to “pop” on it's own or to be used as an accent to complement other hues.

Exotic and nuanced, Pantone's newest pick suggests a direction towards creativity and ingenuity. Radiant Orchid's pink undertones contain the visual punch to attract the female demographic, but will it have the same effect to spark interest in the masculine set? The real success of any color trend is its acceptance beyond the world of fashion. Will manufactures embrace the "magical" connotation and offer products in this close cousin to purple?

Keurig, the Burlington, Vt-based coffee-machine maker, has dipped their toe into committing this unique color to its two single-serving models coming out in early February. Seeing a pink coffee machine in an office environment could certainly liven up a dull kitchen area. Outfitting an entire home kitchen with Radient Orchid colored appliances could however be too over-the-top.

For years I had always felt a negative bias toward orchids. Never being one to decline a gardening challenge, I received one from a friend as a gift for my newly installed garden window. Since then I've come to admire their staying power (if cared for properly blooms can last up to 3 months) and ability to enliven any space they occupy. Radiant Orchid could prove to be a cultural game-changer if it can be seen beyond a feminine lens. Maybe the time is right to give this color it's due beyond the ranks of fashionistas and to place it in area(s) of our lives to inspire innovative thinking.

Munsell’s Crusade to Instruct the Masses

We often take for granted the past work done by pioneers such as Albert H. Munsell. Painter, teacher, and inventor, Munsell created the most influential color-modeling system for its time. His efforts devised a “rational way to describe color” through the of use clear decimal notation; using hue, value, and chroma into uniform yet independent dimensions within a three-dimensional space. This idea broke with the traditional approach of identifying colors through a naming scheme, which Munsell thought was “foolish” and “misleading”. Munsell Color System, Atlas of Color Charts. The color system Munsell built back in the 1900 ’ s continues to serve educators, visual artists, and the industries who depend on color matching technologies to produce their products and services. The Munsell Color Company website has a historical overview of Munsell’s legacy as well as examples of company projects that continue to advance the process of achieving accurate color. To peer inside the

Colors: What They Mean and How To Make Them

It would appear on first glance at this book’s title, that it is a “how-to” text for the hobbyist or textile artist on dye recipes. Some information is given on where pigments are derived from; how to use sources on where to find and create pigments for dying fabric. The real value of the book is not in the recipes but in the cultural history of the pigment sources and the meanings of color, all packaged in a beautifully designed book. Each thought-out chapter highlights a color and is illustrated with photos and fine art reproductions to reinforce the text. Not book for color theorists–but offers a good general survey of color and it's uses throughout the centuries. Written and (visually) presented to hold the reader's attention with interesting facts without overwhelming. Colors: What They Mean and How to Make Them by Anne Varichon

A Perfect Red

A tour-de-force text that succeeds in weaving an illustrious red path through time. With an impressive mountain of scholarship, Greenfield provides little known facts that take us through the political and colonial upheavals in the West Indies and in Spain. Both locales were central to the intrigue the cultivation, importation and trade of cochineal (insect) red dye. The text also demonstrates how the color red has influenced and been integrated into fashion, culture, and mythology throughout the centuries. A few color plates are included which illustrate the progression of how the color was applied as a pigment while being used as an important compositional symbol. A great book that balances history, science and art found within a non-fiction format. A Perfect Red By Amy Butler Greenfield

All Color Matters

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