NCS: action and escape 2024
This time the creative director of NCS Colour, Karl Johan Bertilsson, was surrounded by the audience at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. He did not limit himself to the web conference. People waited in the stalls area for 2024+ colour trends according to NCS, while Bertilsson explained, among other things, that our eyes need contrasts in order not to get sick. That monochrome is harmful.
And again that «colour is passion and cause of well-being», and that «sometimes even the smallest difference in shade causes a huge impact». But the interest, as always when NCS announces colour trends, was all on the predictions of the colour designers. So, which will be the colours of 2024?
2024, year of action and escape
In recent years, NCS has taken a bright and cheerful colour path. It has conceded little to colours of nature. In fact, the four categories identified for 2023 (Cocooning, Passagesm Re-Genesis and Kidultz) were pushing the accelerator of whimsy. This trend is not likely to die out. However, according to NCS, in 2024 we will witness a sudden need to return to nature. In Stockholm, they speak of «biophilia 2.0», dragged along, of course, by the urgency of fighting climate change. For example, think of the heated debate on the EU’s planned stop on endothermic engines from 2035. Next year will therefore be the year of action.
And so red shades will enter the scene. Love, passion, stop, luck. How many meanings does red have? There will also be an increasing use of dark colours, which are perceived as elegant, luxurious and powerful.
YOUNG FOLK
The first trend is driven by the new generation. The one born with smartphones. The digital natives for whom colour contrasts are very important. Ethical and conscious people who want to change the planet. It is a depressed generation that is aiming for radical happiness. They live between the Metaverse and a sustainable physical world. They want clean, happy colours that reflect both spaces. Digital colours, then, but which have always existed in the folklore of every nationality.
S 0570-G80Y
S 0502-Y20R
S 0570-G30Y
S 0520-B70G
S 1030-R40B
S 1060-R30B
A pink that is destined to become more and more important and that is already sweeping through the marbles of Salone del Mobile 2022. A green that is bright nature. A yellow that, breaking with the yellow shades of the past, contains more green than red and is increasingly making its way into chairs and lamps. Elements that are increasingly present in the market, taking hold together with balanced pastels.
WOOD KICK
At a time when digital warfare is also taking over, the second trend proposes living at one with nature. A trend to escape from the Metaverse that has become raging since the pandemic. Again, NCS refers to what we saw at Salone del Mobile 2022. And that is: natural effect is better. Do not add. Do not alter. Adding pigments as a synonym for unsustainability. An extremist trend. Here are natural primal colours with a touch of warmth and happiness, i.e. without excess warmth.
S 2040-Y60R
S 6020-G70Y
S 6010-Y10R
S 2010-Y
S 0505-Y20R
S 2010-B
A very omatt orange. Two luxurious darks. Some decidedly low colours. A pure shade of blue, representing transparent water.
HEART / STOP
Let’s face it: there are many things wrong with this era. We would like to change their course. We would like to stop them. What is the colour that calls a halt? Red. A colour that also represents love and hope. So we need red both when we want things to happen and when we want events to stop. It is also the most widely used shade in folklore at every latitude. That is also why it is widely used in fashion. Because it shows the roots. Red always brings with it contrasting blue and a raw neutral in the background.
S 2040-R
S 1010-Y60R
S 5502-Y50R
S 1580-R
S 4040-Y30R
S 3050-R80B
A pre-eminent pure red, unpolluted by tips of other pigments. An inferior chromatic red. A warm grey. A contrasting blue and a woody nuance.
STAR-GAZER
Liquid humanity on the run in a kaleidoscope of identities and feelings. All gender values are reset. Ethnic and geographical differences disappear. The only thing that counts is the human being. In this fourth trend, powerful colours stand out, reflecting mysticism, spirituality and luxury. Escapism here is not understood as escape, but as taking energy and inspiration. A kind of psychedelic journey. Purple, linked to wealth and fortune, is decisive in this trend. For these reasons it dialogues with gold, in a surprising journey that does not exclude a splash of Tiffany.
S 3050-R60B
S 1020-R70B
S 2030-Y20R
S 7020-R60B
S 1050-B20G
S 6030-Y80R
Three very dissimilar shades of purple. A sober gold. A dark red that is much discussed in the automotive industry. And then a mischievous turquoise.
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