The 2017 Pantone Color of the Year “Greenery” is in nearly all our projects, like the living wall at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in the East Village area of downtown San Diego.
I don’t remember exactly when the announcement of the Pantone Company’s “Color of the Year” became such a big deal. For the last few years at least, this American company best known for creating a universal color matching system called the “Pantone Matching System” names one color every December it thinks will be the hottest color trend in the coming year.
Pantone has a committee of people who watch trends throughout the year in fashion, entertainment including films and TV, auto manufacturing, the fine art world, beauty products, and interior design. The committee members notice how the color is being used, what else it’s being used with, and whether it seems new or fresh. Pantone wants to see if the color is influencing others. Are people reacting to a particular color in a positive way, saying “Wow, I’d like to buy a dress that color” or “I’d like to paint my living room that color.”
Pantone must have been reading our blog page and seeing our project photos on Facebook all year long. The color unveiled as Color of the Year for 2017 could not be a better choice in our humble opinion. It has been the Good Earth Plant Company’s Color of the Year EVERY year!
We were using the Pantone color “Greenery” in our projects long before it was named 2017 Color of the Year. This is our first moss wall installation for a company in Los Angeles.
It’s “Greenery.” Pantone describes it as a “cheery green shade” that evokes the first days of spring when nature and plants revive, restore, and renew. “Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the reassurance we yearn for amid a tumultuous social and political environment,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, in a statement.
“Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate and revitalize, Greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”
Pantone depicts its choice in this video. Check it out – the setting is a green roof!
Whether Pantone realizes it or not, the trend it’s spotted is something we are passionate about and write about frequently: biophilia, the connection between nature and human beings. Greenery symbolizes the re-connection people instinctively seek with nature, even a larger purpose amid a complex social and political landscape. The color “Greenery” is a visual representation of the biophilia hypothesis introduced by Edward O. Wilson, which suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life.
Good Earth Plant Company stays ahead of color trends to provide our clients up to date interiorscaping design ideas. Color choices influence our larger projects too, including our living walls. Color communicates more than you think. Have you ever walked into someone’s house with rust carpet and avocado green appliances? It screams “1978,” doesn’t it?
For the past year, by far our hottest projects and the hottest design trend is our moss walls. They are versatile and open up all kinds of creative possibilities for our clients, bringing nature into workplaces and other structures where a traditional living wall wouldn’t flourish. And take a look, the 2017 Color of the Year is all over them!
Biophilic design can reduce stress, improve cognition and and creativity, improve our well-being and encourage healing. As we live and work in increasingly urban environments, these qualities are ever more important. We know experiencing nature, even just viewing nature creates a restorative response.
American businesses lose billions of dollars each year on lost productivity due to stress-related illnesses. Something as simple as a color choice based in biophilic design which can reconnect us with nature is essential for providing people opportunities to live and work in healthy places and spaces with less stress and greater overall health and well-being.
Pantone can count Good Earth Plant Company ALL IN on the 2017 Color of the Year.
