Pantone deemed 2011 as
the year of Honeysuckle,
a vibrant, energetic hue, emboldening consumers to face everyday
troubles with verve and vigor.
“In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle
is a captivating, stimulating color
that gets the adrenaline going –
perfect to ward off the blues,” said
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.
“Honeysuckle derives its positive
qualities from a powerful bond
to its mother color red, the most
physical, viscerally alive hue in
the spectrum.”
But Eiseman doesn’t want retailers
to pin their sales dreams on one
color alone. Instead, she has nine
palettes from which to choose.
She said, “I talk about palettes
because you cannot say there is a
hot color and this is what is going
to do it for everyone. You have to
offer different moods and looks.”
Each year, Eiseman provides a
keynote presentation at the Inter-
Check out Leatrice Eiseman’s
colorful thoughts on her blog
or listen to last year’s color
presentation here.
national Home + Housewares Show
illustrating the color palette for the
year to come. Last March she described the nine palettes for 2011:
Cottage Industry, Simply Stated,
Style and Substance, Clarity, Fragments, Archetypes, Focal Points,
Mixed Media and Wit and Whimsy.
“My take on it is that in the kitchen
and cooking area in particular you
can utilize the trends so well. Today,
as people are being cautious about
how they spend their money, the
relatively inexpensive products
housewares retailers sell provides
an advantage to bringing color in.
Consumers can think, ‘OK, I am
not replacing the flooring or buying
a new stove but I can certainly
bring in a new toaster, a pepper
mill, or put interesting linens on the
kitchen table that are colorful.’”
Eiseman says that Style and Substance centers
on traditional, but gives consumers permission
to pump up their color combinations with shades
of fuchsia to create a new look. Retailers should
embrace these color combinations in their
displays to inspire consumers in 2011.
